Galway United 0 Derry City 1:AFTER HIS side's 6-1 defeat of Wexford Youths in the season's first final a few weeks back, Stephen Kenny was asked what it was about Derry City and cups. Looking almost hurt, he took time out to recount the club's near misses in the league during his first spell in charge at the Brandywell.
A month on, his side's hopes of a clean sweep of this season's knockout competitions may have been ended by Cork City, but Mark Farren's goal at a windswept Terryland Park yesterday was enough to book them a place at the RDS on November 23rd, when they will take on Bohemians in what promises to be a tantalising Ford-sponsored FAI Cup final.
Kenny's men, he admitted, had not been at their best here against a fiercely determined and hugely spirited Galway side, but what they did was prove themselves fractionally more effective in front of goal. They took one of what turned out to be, after a late flurry, a half-dozen good scoring chances. The hosts could not convert any of the three clear-cut ones they created.
"To be honest," said Kenny, "the players are not elated down there in the dressingroom the way you'd expect them to be.
"They're more relieved really, because they were devastated last week not to make the final of the Setanta Cup.
"It knocked us a bit. We reacted well by winning the league game but we're not going to try to fool anyone now by claiming we've played well here today.
"Bohemians certainly won't be trembling after seeing us but I think we can do better than that."
Key to City's success, though, was that they survived an energetic first-half onslaught by a committed United side determined to make the most of the wind at their backs.
With John Lester anchoring midfield superbly, Galway took the game to their opponents in a way that made their troubles in the league bewildering.
The visitors had more technical ability and much more width but they struggled to exploit them in the face of almost relentless pressure that started well inside the last third of the pitch, where Jay O'Shea and Vinny Faherty relentlessly chased down opponents.
United won a constant supply of ball by smothering the Derry central midfield and making the visitors hurry every pass.
Unfortunately for the locals among the crowd of around 3,500 they gave a ball back too often with poor first touches and impetuous movement of their own.
Still, given Galway had five players either suspended or cup-tied, Kenny readily admitted to being impressed with how tough they had made it for his side.
"Galway's system is a little unusual and we struggled to get to grips with it," he said.
"Lester just sat in front of the back four and mopped everything up and they have a couple of other big lads in midfield who kept Barry Molloy busy.
"We defended well and I thought Clive Delaney was outstanding. Ger (Doherty) only had a coupe of saves to make but I wouldn't like to be unkind.
"They had a lot of the ball so maybe the draw might have been the fairer result."
The Galway manager, Jeff Kenna, would surely have agreed. And the sense in the stand was that the home support felt their team had been hard done by.
Had United taken their best chance of the first half when O'Shea turned his man brilliantly and then fired low but just wide of the target, it might have been a very different afternoon.
And late on they might well have salvaged a draw when Lester's curling cross landed at Faherty's feet and the striker, struggling to make a proper contact under pressure, pushed his shot just wide of the left-hand post.
Farren, in contrast, was coolness personified in the 64th minutes when Eddie McCallion's thrown-in was helped on first by Kevin Deery and then by Gareth McGlynn.
The 26-year-old raced into the box and with his less favoured right foot slotted the ball low past Gary Rogers, who, despite being beaten that once, turned in a generally impressive performance.
Late on, as United chased the game there were, inevitably, chances for the visitors to add to their lead. But a second goal would have been harsh on a Galway side that, on this evidence, have enough resources to stave off relegation.
"Obviously when you reach a cup semi-final you want to take that extra step but it wasn't to be," said Kenna.
"Credit to them, though, we threw everything at them and they came through it.
"I don't want to be disrespectful to the lads who played but maybe if we'd had the three who were suspended (John Russell, John Fitzgerald and Marc McCullough) we might well have been good enough today.
"As it was they just had that little bit more quality, particularly in the last third.
"I mean, Mark Farren, the only chance he gets, he scores."
Like the club's officials as they left the ground, though, Kenna is in little doubt about his side's priorities with matters simply clarified by this defeat.
A rematch between these two at the Brandywell is next up and the hope will be that if City start to rest on their oars a result there would maintain United's momentum ahead of meetings with Finn Harps and UCD.
"They'll all be big games," said Kenna, "and we have to hope that this defeat doesn't have a negative effect."
GALWAY UNITED: Rogers; Sinnott, Kenna, A Keane, Conneely; Lester; J Keane, Jorgensen, Foley (Glynn, 73 mins); Faherty, O'Shea.
DERRY CITY: Doherty; McCallion, Delaney, McChrystal, Gray; McGlynn, Molloy, Deery, McGinn; Morrow (Stewart, 68 mins), Farren.
Referee: A Kelly (Cork).
