Sports Mole previews Friday’s League of Ireland Premier clash between Derry City and Galway United, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Derry City will attempt to claim a second straight victory when they play host to Galway United in Friday’s League Of Ireland Premier Division contest.
The visitors, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back after falling to a narrow defeat in their most recent outing against St Patrick’s Athletic.
Match preview
After finishing in second place in the last two seasons, Derry are hoping to go one better and claim the Premier Division title for the first time since 1997.
As it stands, the Red and White Army are currently occupy a familiar position, sitting in second spot with 35 points and two points adrift of leader Shelbourne, who have the advantage of a game in hand.
Ruaidhri Higgins recently experienced a slight dip in form, losing 1-0 to Shamrock Rovers before playing out draws against Sligo Rovers and Dundalk.
However, they got their title push back on track with a commanding 3-0 victory over Waterford thanks to first-half efforts from Michael Duffy, Mark Connolly and Pat Hoban.
Having racked up 30 goals this season, Derry head into Friday’s contest as the league’s highest scorers, and they will be determined to put their firepower to good use as they look to extend their five-game unbeaten home run.
After winning promotion last term, Galway would have begun the campaign with the sole objective of avoiding an immediate return to the second tier.
However, rather than operating in the lower reaches of the table, Galway are threatening to mount a European bid in their first top-flight campaign since 2016-17.
John Caulfield‘s side are currently sitting in fifth spot and four points adrift of the top three, having won seven, drawn six and lost five of their 18 league matches.
While they can be pleased with their overall performance this term, they would have been disappointed to see their nine-game unbeaten run come to an end with a 2-1 away defeat against St Patrick’s Athletic.
Galway will be confident of getting back on track this Friday, having already taken four points off Derry this season, recording a narrow 1-0 win in March’s away game before playing out a goalless affair in May’s home clash.
Derry City League of Ireland Premier form:
Galway United League of Ireland Premier form:
Team News
Derry remain without the services of midfielder Jordan McEneff, while defender Sam Todd is unlikely to feature after missing the last two matches due to an injury issue.
Sadou Diallo is poised to replace Adam O’Reilly in the middle of the park, with the 23-year-old set to serve a one-match ban for an accumulation of yellow cards.
As the Premier Division’s current top scorer, Hoban will be looking to add to his 10-goal league tally when he leads the line against Galway.
Meanwhile, Caulfield is expected to keep faith with a back four of Jeannot Esua, Rob Slevin, Killian Brouder and Al-Amind Kazeem.
Francely Lomboto is pushing for his start of the season after coming off the bench to score in last Friday’s defeat to St Patrick’s.
Stephen Walsh is expected to spearhead the attack, with the striker looking to find the net against Derry for the second time this season.
Derry City possible starting lineup:
Maher; Dummigan, Connolly, McEleney, Doherty; Diallo, McEleney; McMullan, Patching, Duffy; Hoban
Galway United possible starting lineup:
Clarke; Esua, Slevin, Brouder, Kazeem; Nugent, McCormack; McCarthy, Hurley, Lomboto; Walsh
We say: Derry City 1-1 Galway United
Galway may be sitting below their opponents in the league table, but they have already shown they can compete with Derry in their previous two meetings this season.
While we think a win may be a stretch too far, we believe the visitors will do enough to take a point from Friday’s away fixture.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.