Galway United and Sligo Rovers share spoils after stalemate

Endeavour was admirable but genuine skill was lacking as the Connacht derby between Galway United and Sligo Rovers ended without a goal by the Corrib.

Both Galway and Sligo will feel they could have won a match of few chances, of which United had more, with neither goalkeeper having much to do in the heat of May in the west.

With United's 14 games before this having featured 15 goals in all, this was always liable to be cagey – but it was still an absorbing derby game played to a lively audience.

There was a cracking atmosphere in Eamonn Deacy Park, United riding high in fourth and Rovers fresh from a 1-0 win over St Patrick's Athletic that proved to be Jon Daly's last game as manager. Galway were heavy favourites but were lucky not to fall behind within three minutes.

Brendan Clarke has proven to be one of John Caulfield's best signings and he was off his line with haste to smother an effort by Stefan Radosavljević after he was nicely put in by Max Mata.

However, the home side had much the better of a disjointed opening period thereafter. Ed McCarthy's cross nearly found an opener from the head of defender Killian Brouder, before Patrick Hickey headed wide from a speculative cross from Cameroon native Jeannot Esua.

The Chicago-born Hickey, one of the tallest players in the league, had a sparkling year with Athlone last year, recording the second-most assists in the First Division. His rasping drive kept Ed McGinty, who was little worked in the first half, awake; just before the interval, Hickey's header was parried out for a corner by McGinty. It came to nothing, which summed up the opening 45.

In defence of the players, the setting sun made visibility difficult; regardless, this was a hard watch. United have become really