Tactical guile and a steely confidence earned Galway sweet revenge the third time round as they booked their semi-final place in the FAI Cup.
Finn Harps had deprived Don O'Riordan's side of a final appearance last year having also knocked them out in the second round in 1998, but this evolving Galway side matured a step further to cruise into the last four with something to spare at Finn Park on Saturday night.
"Without being overconfident, we had the belief that we could beat them," said O'Riordan, "and that's how it turned out."
Harps took the game to Galway from the start with Paddy McGrenaghan, Mike Turner and James Mulligan all posing a threat to the visitors' defence before an apparent slip by goalkeeper, Brian McKenna, presented Galway with a soft opening goal on 20 minutes.
Galway had forced one corner but had offered precious little else until Mike Keane let go with a speculative right foot drive from 30 yards which normally McKenna would have swallowed into his arms. And though his manager later offered no sympathy, the Dubliner slipped on the soft surface with the ball flying into the centre of the net.
That galvanised Galway who had marginally the better of the exchanges until scoring a delightfully worked free-kick to make it 2-0 three minutes before the break.
Declan Boyle's foul on Darragh Sheridan on the edge of the area was clinically punished. A three man Galway wall broke with Gareth Gorman running over the ball for Ollie Keogh to curl a right-foot shot into the top corner over the head of Harps player/boss Gavin Dykes, positioned on the post. With an all out assault on the Galway goal yielding nothing in the early stages of the second-half, apart from a marvellous save from Eddie Hickey which deprived Mulligan of a certain goal, a defensive blunder between McKenna and Boyle gifted Eric Lavine Galway's third goal on 68 minutes.
A lifeline arrived a minute later when Turner volleyed home Mulligan's excellent cross. But even that was never going to be sufficient to paper over the cracks of a wholly disjointed Harps display.
"There will be changes against UCD next week," a furious Dykes kept repeating afterwards.
Finn Harps: McKenna; Dykes, Boyle, Bradley; Mohan, Kenny, Tierney, McGrenaghan, Minnock; Mulligan, Turner. Subs: Speak for McGrenaghan (78 mins).
Galway United: Hickey; Neary, Foley, O'Connor, Morgan; Keogh, Sheridan, Keane, Gorman; Lavine, Donnellan. Subs: Goldbey for Donnellan (57 mins), Clery for Gorman (78 mins), Ogden for Keane (84 mins).
Referee: J McDermott (Dublin).
