Caulfield won't stand in way of any move for Alex Murphy

Celtic have joined Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion in taking an interest in the defender, with the Glasgow club's recruitment lead Willie McStay visiting Turner’s Cross on Friday.

Galway's Alex Murphy closes down Cork City's Cian Bargary in Friday's SSE Airtricity League First Division tie at Turner's Cross.

John Caulfield admits Galway United won’t stand in teen star Alex Murphy’s way if he wants to leave for the UK in the summer.

Celtic have joined Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion in taking an interest in the defender, with recruitment lead Willie McStay visiting Turner’s Cross on Friday.

Murphy rampaged into attack to set up the only goal of the night for Ed McCarthy before a crowd of 4,894 and Caulfield will be keen to make the most of the teenager until the transfer window opens in July.

The youngster from Annaghdown will have just turned 18 then and will be able to join a UK club under the updated transfer rules since Brexit.

Big-spending Newcastle have started the bidding by lodging a €100,000 offer but rivals will inevitably chip in should Murphy build on his first 90 minutes of the season in this First Division campaign.

Galway’s next challenge on Friday is against title favourites Waterford.

“Alex is a good lad and these games will test him,” said Caulfield about Murphy’s progression. "He did very good under pressure tonight.” 

Will Galway have to plan without their prize asset for the second half of the season? “He’s only 17 and if he keeps performing well, I’d say maybe so, but he’ll need to play like that every week. So be it if he goes and we’ll be happy for him.” 

Galway secured the victory on Friday night despite playing the final 40 minutes a man down after Wilson Waweru was dismissed for a second yellow card.

“We got a fantastic goal and Conor Kearns made two great saves after that,” said Caulfield, who was banned from the bench and watched the game nearby amongst the home fans of his former club. I thought the sending-off ruined the game. It was a soft decision and not in my view worthy of a second booking. City had all the ball and we had to dig in and defend really well. We needed to stand up, not sit back and take the game to them. I’m not playing it down but there are 32 games in the season. We’ve got a big test on Friday against Waterford.” 

Caulfield’s opposite number Colin Healy, who on Saturday was granted temporary leave of absence for personal reasons, rued a litany of missed chances. “They go direct by playing long balls and won’t play much football. They sat back defending after getting the goal and it’s hard to break them down. They sat in even deeper after going down to 10 men but we got crosses in but didn’t finish. We couldn’t score but can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”