Club director Jonathan Corbett reflects on the rise of Galway United.
Galway United are currently top of the First Division by a significant 16-point margin.It is also a historic season for the club’s women’s team, as they have entered a side into the top flight for the first time.
“And anyone that tells you: ‘We have homegrown talent and great underage teams,’ this is all down to having the Comers involved. Players like Brendan Clarke, Rob Slevin, Killian Brouder, Vincent Borden and David Hurley have been key for a side that have lost just once all campaign, while Monday’s emphatic 5-1 win away to UCD saw them reach the quarter-finals of the FAI Cup.
In May 2022, a deal was announced between Galway and Newcastle, for the then-17-year-old defender Alex Murphy, after he made 26 first-team appearances for the Irish club, with the early exposure to men’s football rendering him an anomaly in the Magpies’ academy.Now 19, the Irish youngster impressed for Eddie Howe’s side in pre-season and doesn’t look far off competitive senior football across the water, having been given a good grounding back home.
“I’ve had conversations about 11 and 12 o’clock at night. It just shows you that his mentality is just football, football, football. He knows everyone in the game. He’s pushed us as a board way more than we’ve ever pushed before.Keeping hold of talented youngsters like Murphy for as long as possible and commanding a substantial sell-on fee will be vital to the success not just of Galway but all League of Ireland clubs in future.
“You don’t know who’s going to take them. And obviously, there are different tiers. If a Premier League club take them, you’ll get more money than as you go down, to the Championship, League One. After a long, hard season vying for promotion, a 3-0 loss to Waterford in the First Division playoff final felt like a crushing blow.
“We all said that we’ll back whatever John wants to do. We need to get up. That’s our main goal. It’s what the Comers want and the fans want. And that was the hardest night I had in football. I’d say it was probably the hardest night for John Caulfield as well. “If you think about it, we have 10 teams including all the women’s teams that we have to furnish every week.
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