Derry continue league dominance in Galway

The relentless march of Derry continued unabated as the Allianz Football League leaders swept to a fourth successive victory against a depleted Galway on a windy day at Pearse Stadium.

An early goal from Eoin McEvoy put Mickey Harte's men in the driving seat and, despite failing to score in the last quarter, they still ran out convincing winners.

Galway, who are still chasing their first home win of the campaign, badly missed the likes of Liam Silke, Paul Conroy and Cillian McDaid around the middle, as well as key attackers Shane Walsh and Damien Comer.

The concession of two second half goals also cost them dearly.

The first of these arrived six minutes after the restart when referee Derek O’Mahoney adjudged that Derry’s Diarmuid Baker had been denied a goalscoring opportunity by Galway defender, Kieran Molloy.

Shane McGuigan (who failed to score from open play) duly stepped up to convert the resultant penalty while Molloy was sent to the sin-bin.

Derry never looked back while Galway never recovered, their cause not helped by a black card for Seán Mulkerrin five minutes later.

Points from Ciarán McFaul, Donncha Gilmore and McGuigan (free) nudged Derry six points ahead swinging into the last quarter, and the game was settled as a contest when Paul Cassidy palmed in a goal in the 55th minute.

Remarkably, Derry failed to score for the remainder of the game but still kept Galway at arm’s length.

The home side only converted 12 of the 28 scoring chances they created and, in the absence of the likes of the aforementioned Walsh and Comer, were unable to put enough scores on the board.

They did shoot the last four points of the match though as substitute Cillian O Curraoin (2, one free), Robert Finnerty (free) and John Daly all hit the