John Caulfield: 'They caught us for a sucker punch but we made two mistakes in the lead up to their goals and that is what is disappointing'

John Caulfield's side are now ten points behind Shelbourne after a 3-2 loss to Cork City on Friday night. Credit: Gerry Shanahan (ETPhotos)

Paul Corcoran reports from Eamonn Deacy Park

Galway United suffered their first defeat in eight games when they lost out 3-2 to Cork City at Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night.

It was the first time in nearly two years that the Tribesmen were allowed 800 fans inside the stadium and the crowd were treated to an entertaining encounter, although the result is a major setback in Galway’s bid to mount a challenge for the First Division title.

Having only conceded two goals in the seven games leading into Friday night, Galway United were uncharacteristically poor defensively and manager John Caulfield expressed his disappointment after the game.

“I thought it was a cracking game, real high quality, good crowd and atmosphere,” Caulfield said, speaking to the media after Friday night’s game.

“We’re disappointed, we felt that we conceded a few soft goals but at 2-2 in the second half we thought, the first 25, 30 minutes, we were really good.

“We had a few great chances, obviously Ruairí had a glorious chance but McNulty made three fantastic saves tonight to be fair to him and they hit us on the counter and scored.

“Fair dues to them, they’ve been drawing a number of matches for the last four or five weeks but their performances have been very good.

“It was a very tight game, but overall we felt we had more chances and we’re disappointed obviously.

“For the crowd we would have liked to have won, it wasn’t for lack of effort from the lads it was just that we made a number of  mistakes for all the goals. That was disappointing because our defending over the last two months had been outstanding.”



Despite the score-line, United were on top for much of the game with Mark McNulty making save after save to deny the home side.

They have another home game in their sights with Shelbourne travelling to Deacy Park next Friday night, that will be a must-win game for Galway if they want to have any chance at catching the Reds with nine games to go in the campaign and a ten point gap to make up.

“We had a lot of play where we put them under a lot pressure and they were hanging in but they are always dangerous on the counter attack,” Caulfield explained.

“They’ve got good players, all those players have played in the Premier Division and they have a lot of games under their belt.

“They caught us for a sucker punch but we made two mistakes in the lead up to their goals and that’s what’s disappointing.

“We have to go in tomorrow and work hard. It’s another huge game and I keep saying this league is always exciting and the playoff spots and everything will go down to the wire.



“We have to bounce back next week with a home crowd again and hopefully we’ll give them something to celebrate next week.”

The Tribesmen take on Shelbourne next Friday night at Eamonn Deacy Park (kick-off 7.45pm).

    About Paul Corcoran

    Paul Corcoran is an experienced writer and journalist and has contributed to various publications including the Galway United match programme Maroon View. He spends much of his time covering the fortunes of Galway United's teams … View Full Profile