Late Wilson Winner For Dundalk Breaks Galway Hearts in Cork | OneFootball

John Caulfield’s return to the home dugout at Turner’s Cross ended in late heartbreak as Tyreke Wilson’s 91st minute winner secured all three points for Ciaran Kilduff’s Dundalk. Renovations at Eamonn Deacy Park and a lack of viable nearer alternatives meant that Galway’s “hands were tied” in having to play this supposed home fixture 200 kilometres to the south. This will go a long way to explain what will surely be by a distance the Premier Division’s lowest attendance of the season at 454.

The crowd made up of (as an estimate) 60% Galway fans, 25% away fans, 15% neutrals was treated to a robust, intense and often end-to-end clash that lacked end product until a moment of quality at the death made it all worthwhile for that 25%.

Both managers made two changes to the starting teams from before the break. Caulfield brought in Conor McCormack and Arthur Parker in the place of Matthew Wolfe and Kris Swardek. Kilduff, meanwhile, replaced Gbemi Arubi and Shane Tracey with Danny Mullen and Ronan Teahan from the team that beat Derry a fortnight ago.

In the seventh minute, Dundalk were denied a dream start, and a stonewall penalty, when Arthur Parker brought down Daryl Horgan in the penalty area with a mistimed lunge as the veteran wideman knocked it past him. Referee Kevin O’Sullivan, however, was unbothered despite the vehement appeals of Kilduff’s players.

The ‘visitors’, invigorated by a sense of injustice, were back knocking at the Galway door a minute later. Eoin Kenny’s effort from range was parried by keeper Evan Watts, only to fall to Horgan whose side-footed effort flashed wide of the far post.

Dundalk’s number seven, who was on familiar soil at Turner’s Cross after a number of years with Cork City, was the main threat for Kilduff’s men throughout the first half, causing constant problems down the Tribesmen’s right side. His looping cross nearly ended up in Danny Mullen nodding his team into the lead, but his header bounced just beyond Watts’ post.

Galway’s first shot on target came from within their own half, David Hurley’s audacious attempt sought to catch Enda Minogue off his line, but the former Bray Wanderers and St Joseph’s Boys keeper collected comfortably. Their first real chance fell to Ed McCarthy in the 36th minute, one of four ex-Cork City players in the Galway starting XI. McCarthy picked the ball up on the halfway line and carried it into space down the left before letting fly in the box but Minogue dived low to gather.

Dundalk continued to put pressure on the United backline but struggled to fashion any real chances when they got close to goal. It was level at the break as John Caulfield brought his team in for a half-time team talk in a dressing room he knows well.

Second 45:

Galway came fastest out of the blocks, with McCormack and McCarthy both having attempts that flashed wide and over within the opening 75 seconds of the second period. Dundalk would have to wait until just before the hour to work their first real chance of the half, when Mullen’s strike forced a fine save from Watts at his near post.

Only a couple of minutes later, Mullen again came close to giving his side the lead but was unable to turn JR Wilson’s cross goalwards, heading wide from just yards out in what was his side’s biggest chance to that point.

John Caulfield sought to take the initiative and turn the game in his favour with a quadruple substitution on the hour mark, switching from a 4-2-3-1 to a 5-3-2 in the process. In reality, however, bringing on an extra defender exposed his team shape in other areas, allowing Dundalk to take advantage of the extra space in the middle and out wide as the game became increasingly stretched.

With a quarter of the game remaining, the second busload of Galway supporters finally reached Turner’s Cross, their journey delayed by a flat tire on route. They were not given much to get excited about in the final 20 minutes, though, as the Lilywhites took control and looked the team most likely to find a winner.

It looked like that moment had come and gone when, right as the clock ticked over 90, Ronan Teahan’s header bounced agonisingly off the post, granting the Tribesmen a reprieve. Before the first minute of stoppage time was out, however, the travelling contingent of Dundalk fans finally got the moment that made their long journey south worthwhile. In the second phase from a corner, Tyreke Wilson strode onto the loose ball from Keohane’s tackle some 25 yards out and drove it sweetly with his left instep across the goal and into the far right inside netting.

Jubilant celebrations ensued from the Dundalk bench and the away section at the other end of the ground for a goal which Ciaran Kilduff will surely feel his team merited on the balance of their performance. It was late desolation for John Caulfield, his players and the several hundred Galway fans who had made the 200 plus kilometre journey to Cork.

The only solace they could take was the fact that their Sligo Rovers, their local and relegation rivals, had a much worse night in Waterford, losing 4-0 to the bottom-dwelling Blues. Drogheda’s defeat at St Pats means that the Tribesmen are, owing to goal difference, in a better position than they started the night, still two points above the play-off spot, though that will only be minor consolation given the nature of the finale in Cork.

Dundalk, meanwhile, close the gap to Bohemians in third who lost 4-1 up in Derry as their return to Premier Division football continues to go beyond what most imagined possible.