**Exhibit
      31.1**


**Certification
      of Chief Executive Officer**


**Pursuant
      to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002**







I,
      Richard B. Collins, certify that:




1.  I
      have
      reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of United Financial Bancorp, Inc.;




2.  Based
      on
      my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue statement of
      a
      material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements
      made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made,
      not
      misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly report;




3.  Based
      on
      my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included
      in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material respects the financial
      condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and
      for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;




4.  The
      registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and
      maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act
      Rules
      13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:




(a)  Designed
      such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls
      and
      procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
      information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries,
      is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
      period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;




(b)  Evaluated
      the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and
      presented in this quarterly report our conclusions about the effectiveness
      of
      the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
      by
      this quarterly report based on such evaluation; and




(c)  Disclosed
      in this quarterly report any change in the registrant’s internal control over
      financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal
      quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
      affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and




5.  The
      registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most
      recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
      registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of
      directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):




(a)  All
      significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation
      of
      internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
      adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and
      report financial information; and




(b)  Any
      fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees
      who
      have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial
      reporting.







Date:
            May
                5, 2006
            
            /s/
                Richard B. CollinsRichard
                B. CollinsPresident
                and Chief Executive Officer




18