“Our Hands were Tied.” Galway United vs Dundalk… in Cork. But Why? | OneFootball

Premier Division football returns to Turner’s Cross this Friday night with John Caulfield back in the home dugout. No, the League of Ireland has not been thrust back in time to the heady days of 2017, but rather Galway United will ‘host’ Dundalk FC in Cork in a somewhat bizarre state of affairs.

Planned renovations to the pitch at Eamonn Deacy Park meant that this game was always going to take place outside of United’s traditional venue. What wasn’t expected, however, was that Galway supporters would be asked to make a more than 400 kilometre round trip to watch their team play a ‘home’ fixture.

While Eamonn Deacy Park was to be out of commission for the months of June and July, the Tribesman had agreed to play their games at Pearse Stadium, home of Galway GAA in Salthill (200 kilometres nearer to their usual stadium than Turner’s Cross). Their subsequent fixtures against Derry City, Sligo Rovers and Waterford have all been confirmed for Pearse Stadium.

The GAA pitch was unavailable for the clash with Dundalk, however, due to Galway’s gaelic football match versus Westmeath on Sunday. The powers that be at GUFC were therefore tasked with finding an alternative venue for the arrival of the Lilywhites or be threatened with forfeiting the three points, as boss John Caulfield revealed this week.

Galway Manager John Caulfield

All ROads lead to cork:

Following widespread online dissatisfaction at the announcement that a five-hour round-trip would be required to attend a nominal home match, Caulfield addressed the United fans in a video published on the club’s social media in which he sought to explain the chain of events that led to this situation.

The Galway boss referred to it as “the most difficult decision that I’ve seen the club have to make since I’ve come in here.” When it became apparent “over the last month” that Pearse Stadium would likely be unavailable this weekend, Caulfield reiterated that the club sifted through a variety of options to avoid a scenario akin to the one that arose.

“We looked to reverse the fixture, Dundalk didn’t want to do that… which was their right”, he explained, adding that when Galway GAA then offered Pearse Stadium up for the game to take place on Monday, Dundalk also refused that preposition. The Louth club presumably did not want to submit themselves to a considerably shorter turnaround time ahead of a big trip to second-placed Bohemians the following Friday.

“Our options to play the game in Galway were very limited,” Caulfield continued, stating that they looked at eight possible venues, none of which turned out to be feasible, either because of FAI rejections due to minimum requirements for grounds in which Premier Division games can take place or because they were in use that weekend. Caulfield mentioned Longford, Treaty and Athlone, all of which would be markedly shorter journeys than Cork, but those first two had home fixtures this week (Treaty on Friday, Longford on Saturday), whilst Athlone was dismissed as an option because of its astroturf pitch which meant “that wasn’t suitable for us.”

RUles are rules (for some):

It was not the prospect of having to play at Turner’s Cross that most frustrated the Galway manager, who knows that ground very well following over two decades combined as a player and manager with Cork City, but the sense of double standards that led to this situation, in his view.

Caulfield noted that, as his club tried to find a solution, they requested to have the game postponed and refixed for another date, which “was refused by the FAI and we were warned that if the game doesn’t go ahead Friday and we find a venue, that we would forfeit the three points. So obviously that was a very difficult situation for us, despite other clubs switching venues and matches, certainly from our point of view it feels very tough the way we were going to be penalised.”

There, Caulfield references the fact that Derry City and Dundalk have both had home fixtures rejigged due to renovation works at their respective grounds, leading to a sense of injustice amongst the Terryland club that a similar appeasement couldn’t be afforded them: “Our frustration is that there has been precedent with (other) clubs who have been able to switch fixtures and grounds. We saw that at the start of the season when Dundalk’s pitch wasn’t available. We feel aggrieved it has come to this situation and we feel as though our hands were tied.”

Caulfield then issued a rallying cry to the team’s supporters to take advantage of the subsidised buses that the club have put on for the trip south and show their support under difficult circumstances at their temporary home away from home. “The book has been thrown at us and we need to respond with a big crowd and a performance down in Cork”, he remarked, urging a siege mentality ahead of a game that has consequences for both sides and at both ends of the table.

The show goes on:

Galway currently sit seventh, just two points above Connaught-rivals Sligo in the relegation play-off spot, needing a result that will help keep their head above water for the time being. Getting forcibly extracted from their Terryland home, their county and even their province has come at a time when the Tribesmen could really use a bit of home advantage. One win in their last eight has them looking over their shoulder again following a positive start to the campaign, amassing two-thirds of their current points tally across the first ten games.

Searching for encouragement, some Galway players will be in familiar surroundings on Friday evening, with Jimmy Keohane, Aaron Bolger, Ed McCarthy and Conor McCormack all having spent time in the home dressing room at Turner’s Cross as Cork City players. The same too could be said of Dundalk skipper Daryl Horgan, who was a major part of the City team during the Caulfield years.

History, however, is not necessarily something Galway want a repeat of on Friday night given their recent records both against Dundalk and at Turner’s Cross. When the two sides last met in mid-April at Oriel Park, a Declan McDaid brace off the bench secured three points for the Lillywhites, whilst previous to that it was 2-2 at Terryland in March.

Neither does Leeside arouse happy memories for Galway, given that last year, amidst a cosmically terrible campaign for rock-bottom Cork City, one of their four wins all season came against the Tribesmen, whilst their other meeting at the cross ended in an opening night draw. This time out, John Caulfield will be hoping for a full-time feeling more resembling of those he experienced between 2015 and 2017 at Turner’s Cross compared to that of 2024.