MATCH REPORT | Bohemians 0-0 Galway United (Women’s Premier Division)

Galway United Women did everything but score as they were held to a 0-0 draw against Bohemians at Dalymount Park on Saturday afternoon.

United enjoyed the majority of the game’s chances but couldn’t quite apply the finishing touch through a combination of misplaced efforts and some excellent goalkeeping by Rachael Kelly in the home goal.

FIRST HALF

Phil Trill named an unchanged starting XI from last Saturday’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Athlone Town. The bench was shuffled, however, with Rola Olusola and Anna Fahey both returning to the squad.

The game started slowly with neither side creating much of note. 15 minutes in, however, United had the ball in the net. Lynsey McKey’s corner was bundled over the line by Jamie Erickson but Bohemians’ goalkeeper Rachael Kelly was fouled in the process and the goal was ruled out.

Just three minutes later Bohs had a chance of their own to take the lead. Confusion in the United backline saw the ball fall to the feet of Rachel Doyle, whose effort from the edge of the area sailed harmlessly over the bar to let the away side off the hook.

United’s best chance of the match fell to Jenna Slattery in the 26^th minute. The midfielder found herself in on goal after some phenomenal work by McKey in the build-up, but she was denied by a fantastic low stop by Rachael Kelly at point-blank range.

Kelly was repeatedly called into action in the following minutes as she kept out several attempts by Jodie Griffin. The first, a 25-yard curling effort, was acrobatically kept out, while the second was another close-range save to deny Griffin after a brilliant scoop by Slattery put her in on goal.

SECOND HALF

Chances were few and far between in the second half as Bohemians grew into the game and looked to carve out chances of their own. Yet United’s backline, with just one goal conceded in their past nine games, never looked overly troubled with Jessica Berlin enjoying a quiet game in goal.

The best chance of the half fell to Erickson in the 64^th minute. After a spell of United pressure, McKey swung in an inch-perfect floated corner that was glanced agonisingly wide by the Canadian defender to keep the game goalless.

Phil Trill turned to his bench in the last ten minutes. With the game opening up, Olusola and Abbie Callanan were introduced in hopes of exploiting the added space behind the Bohs backline.

Those changes almost proved fruitful; Olusola and Callanan connected to carve out an opening four minutes from time. A driving run by Olusola allowed McKey to find Callanan inside the area, who was unable to make a proper connection as Bohs managed to clear.

Stoppage time came and went as both sides ultimately had to settle for a point, with the gap between the two sides in the league table remaining at just one point.

POST-MATCH REACTION

Speaking after the game, United manager Phil Trill took plenty of positives from the performance:

I thought we were excellent, in the first half particularly. We had some really good chances, but they just didn’t go in.

“The really positive thing is that we controlled the game throughout. I think Bohs will be happy to come out of here with a draw today because I thought we were excellent for large spells of the game.

I think the performance will really stand to us in terms of our energy off the ball as well as our possession-based football.

“Every game is an opportunity for us to get better and we have to be realistic, we’ve already surprised a lot of people with where we are.”

TEAMS

Galway United (Phil Trill, Manager)

J. Berlin; T. Kinnevey, E. Dossen (A. Gough, 84’), J. Erickson, A. Costello (A. Madden, 87’); I. Beletic, J. Slattery, K. Thompson, J. Griffin (A. Callanan 78’); L. McKey, A. Meaney (R. Olusola, 78’).

Booked: E. Dossen (59’).

Bohemian F.C. (Pat Trehy, Manager)

R. Kelly; L. Craven, L. Murphy, C. Maher, K. Burdis; F. Donnelly, K. Bates Crosbie (R. McGrath, 74’), R. Doyle (A. O’Hara, 58’), M. Dodd; K. Lovely, K. Malone.

NEXT UP

United return to home action against DLR Waves on September 9th at 7:35PM. Tickets are free for everybody, and can be reserved HERE!