I’ve got a book coming out in spring 2025 about discovering Irish football as an outsider. I cover both the Irish League in Northern Ireland and the League of Ireland in the Republic. One of the standouts of my three visits to Ireland was travelling on the west coast, so here’s a special post about a double-header in Connacht. This is not an extract; the book will have way more detail on both clubs and exclusive interviews, so stay tuned for that…
For me, one of the most overlooked and underrated leagues in Europe for groundhoppers is the League of Ireland. There are some superb historic grounds, crowds are up significantly since Covid, and there is a vibrant ultra culture that adds colour and interest to every game.
What’s more, matches are often played under lights, adding that bit more atmosphere. Most clubs opt for Friday night football as not to clash with the popular Premier League schedule, but a few clubs play on Saturday evening, especially if many people from their town work in Dublin during the week. This is the case with home games at Galway United, who play on Fridays, and Sligo Rovers, who play on Saturdays.
This meant I could knock off two matches in two days and have a scenic bus ride in between.
Matchday at Galway United
Before I headed to Galway, it seemed that everyone I spoke to said that Galway United’s Eamonn Deacy Park was one of their favourite grounds in the country. Galway city itself has a lovely mix of the old and the new, with rows of brightly painted cottages that you’d expect on a postcard to a bustling centre and university. Its cathedral dome dominates the flat aspect and wouldn’t look out of place in Eastern Europe.
County Galway is home to the highest proportion of Gaeilge (Irish language) speakers in the country, where half the population can speak the language. The city’s football club, Galway United, has its Irish name – Cumann Sacair Gaillimh Aonthaithe – on its crest and the pre-match team announcements were in Irish. The ground is only a couple of kilometres out of the city centre, so very manageable on foot.
Eamonn Deacy Park is named after a former player and the club is an interesting one as – like many League of Ireland clubs – it’s come through a rough financial patch but is now back in the top flight and has a sponsor in the billionaire Comer brothers. The 5,000-capacity stadium has a lower league feel about it with one modern main stand and an old school one opposite it with view-restricting pylons. There are no stands behind the goals, but you can linger there.
Galway United’s ultras, the Maroon Army, kept the songs coming throughout the 90 minutes, while the opponents that evening, Drogheda United, brought around 80 fans. Disappointingly, there was no pyro at this match; a pre-match announcement threatened lengthy stadium bans as the authorities tightened up on pyrotechnics after a couple of recent incidents, including one where a flare thrown from a Bohemians fan hit one of their own players.
I bought my tickets online via the club website for €18. It was decent value for money for the atmosphere and the venue, and Galway United have a particularly attractive Salernitana-esque claret shirt with black shorts kit. However, I wasn’t blessed with goals – which is a shame as the nets looked particularly springy – and the game ended 0-0.
Despite the lack of action on the pitch, the Maroon Army kept the songs coming, including a sped-up version of locally inspired terrace favourite The Fields of Athenry at the close.
How to get to Galway United’s ground
Visiting Sligo Rovers
I caught the bus the next day and weaved up to Sligo, described to me by pretty much everyone I met as ‘a proper football town’. It’s probably better known worldwide for its great poet W.B. Yeats rather than its football, but Sligo Rovers – the ‘Bit O’Red’ – are a huge part of this community.
Sligo Rovers’ most famous player is arguably Everton legend, Dixie Dean, who had a final flurry for the Bit O’Red at the end of his career. His time here is chronicled in Paul Little’s 2022 book In the Shadow of Benbulben: Dixie Dean at Sligo Rovers. Dean, like many other figures from Sligo Rovers’ history, feature on a history wall at the club’s Showgrounds. It’s worth turning up 20 minutes early to work your way through those.
In the distance is the moody grey-green hulk of Benbulben, a table mountain that provides the most spectacular backdrop. The away team when I visited were champions Shamrock Rovers from Dublin, who sold out their section and set off some pre-match pyro. Sligo Rovers fans see their club as the only Rovers, referring to their Dublin counterparts as the ‘Shams’, even though the Dubliners were founded three decades before Sligo.
Tickets are available online at €20 for adults, so a little more than Galway United, but it’s great value for the view and the atmosphere. Sligo feels like every bit the ‘proper football town’ that everyone said, plus it’s only a short walk from the centre of town uphill to the Showgrounds.
Once more, I wasn’t blessed with goals as it finished Rovers 0 Rovers 0, meaning that over 180 minutes of football in Connacht, I’d not seen a single score. With the following day free, I climbed the historic Knocknarea hill in the morning and then went to see my first hurling match in the afternoon, where I did at least see plenty of points scored.
How to get to Sligo Rovers