Derry City 1 Galway United 1

Seamus Conneely's first League of Ireland goal gave United a point in the Brandywell.

Match report from RTE.IE  

Derry City may have climbed onto the summit of the Premier Division, but the Candystripes will be hugely disappointed at dropping two points in a 1-1 draw to a spirited Galway at the Brandywell.

Having more or less dominated the game, Galway caught their hosts cold during the early stages of the second half to level the game.

And Derry did get back into full stride, but Galway keeper Barry Ryan gave an outstanding performance, particularly during the latter stages of the game.

Totally on top during the early stages, the home side deservedly broke the deadlock in the 21st minute.

Gareth McGlynn gained possession on the right and his low cross was diverted to the Galway net by the well placed Thomas Stewart from 10 yards.

The home side had further chances to add to their advantage but they failed to seriously test Ryan as Derry continued to dominate.

But failing to pick up where they had left off, Derry were caught cold as Galway began to take advantage of the home lot's complacency.

And following a corner in the 52nd minute, the visitors stunned the home side with an equaliser.

Having failed to clear the danger, the ball fell into the path of Seamus Conneely and the Galway full-back drilled a low shot from 25 yards which screamed into the Derry net.

That goal sparked the home side back into action and while Morrow went close with a header in the 55th minute, keeper Ryan did well to win a race for possession with Stewart following a poor back pass.

And Ryan continued to thwart the Derry attack when he pulled off two top drawer saves with the space of as many minutes.

In the 68th minute, Ryan dived at full stretch to his right to parry Liam Kearney's superb strike and in the 70th minute the keeper pulled off an equally brilliant save to deny Barry Molloy's goal-bound effort.

With one minute remaining Derry substitute and debutante, Tam McManus, was played in by Mark McChrystal but again Ryan did well to block the shot with his foot.

Derry City - Doherty; O'Brien, McChrystal (Higgins, 90 mins.), Hutton, Gray; McGlynn (McClean, 84 mins.), Molloy, Kearney (McManus, 74 mins.); Morrow, Stewart.

Galway United - Ryan; Conneely, Breen, Guthrie, Davoren; O'Shea, McBrien (Cooke, 60 mins.), Kelly, McGrath (Murphy, 76 mins.), O'Brien; Faherty.