Galway confident of final outcome

GALWAY UNITED will be hoping to leave their ongoing financial troubles behind them this evening when they travel to Cork for the second leg of the National League Cup final.

The first division outfit lead the tie 3-1 after the two sides' first meeting two weeks ago and manager Denis Clark is optimistic about his side's chances of capitalising on that advantage over the concluding half of the fixture tomorrow.

"I'm confident to be honest about it. We're not going to go down there and defend just because we re two goals up, that's for sure" he said.

Clark's cause is helped by the return from suspension of experienced defenders Martin Lawlor and Peter Carpenter, while Eddie Van Boxtel has also recovered from injury.

"It's good to have players like them who have experience and who have won league medals. It's not like we are going down there with a young team. Obviously they are going to come at us, but I'm hoping that they will be well able to stand up to the test."

While welcoming any opportunity to take a piece of silverware back to Galway, Clark admits that the League Cup has been something of a distraction for a team whose main priority is to win promotion back to the Premier Division at the first attempt.

United's recent league form has certainly been disappointing, but even Clark's opposite number, Dave Barry, feels that their current position mid table belies the true strength of their team.

"I was very impressed with them, they really are a premier division team and I think once they get this out of the way, it will only be a matter of time before they get their act together in the league. They'll be back up next season."

Barry's own side, on the other hand, has been doing particularly well in the league of late. They suffered their last defeat, to Shamrock Rovers, back at the start of November". Consolidation in the league is still, he insists, the priority, although he admits: "Winning this would be nice - we haven't got too many trophies around the place down here".

Two of the players who played at Terryland will miss the game at Turner's Cross. Declan Daly is suffering from a hamstring problem and Phil Harrington is still a couple of weeks off a first team appearance after receiving a dead leg in the game against Shelbourne. Kelvin Flanagan, meanwhile, will also be absent after limping out of Sunday's match with Saint Patrick's Athletic with a twisted ankle.

Philip Long and Brian Barry Murphy are both expected to start in their places with Noel Mooney retaining his place in goal. There is also some good news for the southerners in the form of Patsy Freyne's return to fitness.