League Report: Galway United 2 - 2 Athlone Town

Paul Corcoran reports Eamonn Deacy Park

It was an entertaining night of football in Eamonn Deacy Park on Monday when Galway United and Athlone Town played out a 2-2 draw.

Athlone Town took the lead twice through Taner Dogan and Adam Lennon but the Tribesmen managed to peg them back with goals from Mikey Place and Francley Lomboto.

Galway United came close in the 2^nd minute after great link up play between Place and Marc Ludden on the right flank.

Ludden played one final pass in the box across to Maurice Nugent, but the midfielder’s shot was too close to Aaron Myles and the goalkeeper easily smothered the ball.

The visitors almost took the lead when a corner-kick from Taner Dogan found Joel Coustrain just outside the Galway box in the 10^th minute. Coustrain aimed low and Kevin Horgan had to be at full stretch to bat the shot away from the goal mouth.

Just two minutes later the visitors took the lead from the head of Taner Dogan. The American nodded home for his first goal for the club after drifting in to the box and winning a free header.

The goal will sting that extra little bit for Galway with former Tribesman Ronan Manning providing the assist from the corner.

Manning’s deliveries were killer all night after being taken down just outside the box by Brouder, he found the head of Scott Delaney, but the imposing defender couldn’t keep the ball down and his effort went over the bar.

The teams were drawn level in the 41^st minute after a long ball up the field from the Galway defence found its way to the feet of Aaron Myles just outside the opposite box.

The goalkeeper turned to take the ball into his area without the awareness of the quickly oncoming Place who stripped the ball from Myles and tapped the ball into the net.

Myles possibly made up for his mistake minutes later after a cracking effort from Place nearly struck the top corner.

The goalkeeper was in top form to stretch and bat the ball wide of the goal, only just managing to prevent the home side taking the lead.

Galway went close in the 54^th minute as they sought to claim the lead. Stephen Christopher nudged the ball from the right into Ludden but, with the defender bearing down on goal, Ludden could only strike the ball at Myles in the Athlone goal for the save.

The visitors took the lead again in the 59^th minute after Galway failed to deal with a dangerous ball into the box. Dean George got the first crack at the shot with the striker dinging the goalpost, but Adam Lennon followed the ball all the way and tapped the rebound into the net.

Athlone looked the more dangerous side coming into the later stages of the game, but Galway just managed to scrape a point from this one after second half substitute Francley Lomboto struck for his first goal for The Tribesmen in the 88^th minute.

Conor Barry threaded the ball through to Mikey place on the left side of the Athlone box and the forward just managed to keep the ball from rolling out before squaring it to Lomboto who struck low and hard into the back of the net.

Galway United: Kevin Horgan ; Cian Murphy , Kevin Farragher , Killian Brouder (Francely Lomboto 70) ; Marc Ludden , Donal Higgins , Stephen Christopher , Maurice Nugent (Conor Barry 70) , Sam Warde (Wilson Waweru 86) ; Vinny Faherty , Mikey Place .

Subs not used: Cian Mulryan, Francely Lomboto, Conor Barry, Caoilfhionn O'Dea, Timo Parthoens, Carlton Ubaezuonu, Wilson Waweru.

Booked: Killian Brouder (25), Mikey Place (30), Cian Murphy (74),

Athlone Town: Aaron Myles ; David Brookes , Scott Delaney , Evan White ; Mark Birrane , Joel Coustrain (Jordan Carr 36) , Taner Dogan , Ciaran Grogan , Adam Lennon (Bradley Okaidja 85) , Ronan Manning ; Dean George .

Subs not used: Jordan Carroll, Darcy Lawless, John Morgan, Jack Reynolds, Tumelo Tlou.

Booked: Taner Dogan (37), Ronan Manning (45), Mark Birrane (72),

Referee: Oliver Moran

ExtraTime.ie Player of the Match: Ronan Manning (Athlone Town)