With the trauma of last week's defeat at Tolka Park safely behind them, St Patrick's Athletic got back to the business of hauling themselves up the table at Inchicore last night.
They quickly found their stride too, taking the lead in then opening minutes and going on to produce as convincing a league win as they'd managed all season - one that, until this evening at least, lifts them into the top six.
Galway's form over the past couple of months, they arrived with just one win in their previous seven league outings, suggested that they would struggle against a team which has grown used to hammering out the results again at home.
Still, the first half was a bit of a mess with the visiting side's youngsters looking vulnerable at set pieces and a little panicky on the regular occasions that the Dubliners hit them on the break.
With the hosts boasting a dead ball specialist of Paul Byrne's calibre the succession of corners and free kicks conceded by the United defence was always going to prove costly and sure enough both goals scored by Pat Dolan's side were down to the former Celtic midfielder and his particular knack for picking out his spot when striking the ball from a set piece.
Byrne set up the opening goal for Robbie Griffin from a corner after just four minutes with last week's goalscorer against Shelbourne losing his marker neatly to get in a free header but on the half hour the 28-year-old Dubliner tucked the second away himself from a free which, though well struck, really shouldn't have beaten David Forde in the Galway goal.
Don O'Riordan's side had a couple of chances themselves, most of them the results of scrambles around Seamus Kelly's goalmouth, but the best by some way came midway through the opening half when Ger Crossley picked up the ball out wide on the right, pulled the ball inside a defender and drove a spectacular left footed drive goalwards. The shot was pretty good but Kelly's save was even better.
Had United grabbed something then or even after the second goal there might have been something left in the game for them but when half-time arrived and the score was still 2-0 it was impossible to see the locals surrendering their advantage.
By the restart O'Riordan had introduced Ollie Keogh for Alan Murphy but the pattern of the game changed little.
Galway's youngsters continued to knock the ball around nicely at the back and into midfield but there they repeatedly lost it when put under pressure with the result that Eric Lavine and Stephen Grant very rarely got a serious chance to threaten Kelly's goal.
After Ger McCarthy made it 3-0 with a fine curling shot into the top right corner from a tight angle any hint of urgency disappeared from the home side's approach.
Casually, they killed off any potentially dangerous looking Galway move in the first 20 metres or so of their box and while Lavine did go close with a toe-poked shot that bounced just wide after a quickly taken free and Grant finally forced the goalkeeper into another save with a glancing header late on, there were more and better opportunities at the other end.
None was taken but then the scoreline, like the gap that is finally starting to open up between the two sides in the Premier Division table, already reflected the difference in quality perfectly well.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Kelly; Croly, Foley, Maguire, Burke; Byrne, R McGuinness, Osam (Harris, 77 mins), Griffin; McCarthy (Hughes, 93 mins), Kelly (Drew, 84 mins).
GALWAY UNITED: Forde; Crossley, Foley, Burke, Morgan; Ryan, Fortune (Clery, 68 mins), Sheridan, Murphy (Keogh, halftime); Grant, Lavine.
Referee: J Stacey (Athlone).
