Another week, another pitch inspection as the rain seems to have never stopped on this giant puddle we call our home, last week Sea Maguire digging out a potentially huge three points against a dogged Harps, this time things a lot more comfortable against Galway.
Four different goalscorers against an admittedly weak Galway side, who barely troubled Mark McNulty in once again keeping City’s goal intact. The Rebel Army haven’t conceded a competitive goal in 2017 thus far, and despite again John Caulfield changing the centre-back pairing – John Dunleavy dropping out of the squad with Alan Bennett partnering Ryan Delaney – the pair worked well together against a potentially Galway attack.
Come 4pm it seemed a real doubt that the game would go ahead, it had been lashing the few days previous, and after the heavy pitch in which City opened their home account with a President’s Cup victory over Dundalk, more rain signalled bad news. However massive credit is due – and was given by Caulfield and the players – to the groundstaff who worked tirelessly on the pitch, and a game not called off in eight years speaks for itself.
One game that was called off however was Derry’s first game at their temporary home in Buncrana, after a floodlight failure 25 minutes; it had all the makings of an exciting game, with both sides recording surprisingly high victories on the opening day, but now a fixture later in the month awaits.
I digress, however, and back to the Cross where we saw some really promising performances around the pitch. Unable to truly play last week against Harps, the Turner’s Cross surface, holding up really well despite the conditions, allowed City to get the ball down and play around with it. Seanie got his customary goal, albeit in fortuitous circumstances, and seeing Conor Ellis fly down the channel before rolling one inside the post made the 3,335 in attendance wonder what all the fuss around Ogbene was about.
Ellis has had a smashing pre-season, and has a proven goalscoring record behind him at underage. He seems to thrive in that wide role behind Maguire, and proves another hugely useful option in that part of the pitch. Alan Bennett was as solid as ever, and after a difficult start Ryan Delaney began to find his feet; his glancing header on the hour mark all-but-ending the game as a contest.
Delaney received some unfair stick from some parts, but having to play with a different defensive partner makes the already difficult job of settling into a new club even harder, and having not conceded a goal in over 460 competitive minutes thus far, it’s hard to find much fault with the Rebel Army as a defensive unit.
Up front, things seem to be clicking nicely, with Keohane still needing some more time, but doing well in his adopted role in the middle behind Maguire following Garry Buckley’s needless sending off last Friday. The highlight of proceedings his flick into the path of Stephen Dooley, who deliciously chipped Ciarán Nugent, the Galway netminder not exactly covering himself in glory last night.
Another strong victory against Galway now sets us up nicely against what should be a tricky tie away to Drogheda. Pete Mahon’s side were reportedly fortunate to escape Terryland Park with three points on the first weekend, but making it two in two against St Patrick’s Athletic has made the league stand up more.
We must make sure we stand up next Friday and keep our 100% record before key back-to-back games against Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk later on this month.