Devon and Mervue Utd on their guard

STEPHEN GLENNON

Flashback images of a black weekend in late April/early May will be prevalent in the minds of the Salthill Devon and Mervue United players as they face daunting ties against Derry City and Shelbourne on Friday and Saturday respectively.

In the corresponding Airtricity First Division fixtures earlier in the season, Salthill Devon suffered a humiliating 7-0 defeat to Derry, while Mervue United collapsed on a scoreline of 4-0 away to Shelbourne. Eleven goals conceded between the two, it was one of the bleakest ever weekends for League of Ireland football in the city.Consequently, memories of those harrowing defeats should prompt – and demand – some sort of a retort. Devon Head Coach Emlyn Long – who takes his charges, on the back of a first League win, up the Brandywell to face First Division runaway leaders Derry this evening (7.45pm) – agrees.

“We do, but the other thing we have to remember is that we were also on a high going into that game (7-0 defeat), after scoring the late equaliser against Mervue, and Derry ran away comfortably with the win. Here we are on a high again, and that point will have to be driven home to the lads. We didn’t show up on the day for that game and Derry just put us to the sword.”

Long says that Devon will have to be much more focused this time around, particularly with the game in the Brandywell, although he is the first to admit that Salthill will have it all to do against the League leaders. “They are a quality side and the couple of recruits they brought in – a player from Celtic and a young lad from Newcastle – during the season shows they are a side with ambition.

“In fact, I would say they would not be out of place in the top three in the Premier Division. So, it is a massive, massive test. We showed, though, that we were very up for the match against Mervue last weekend – we were physical and we were hungrier – but it is no good producing performances like that and not being able to do it when you travel to places like the Brandywell. So, we have to be prepared to do the same against Derry this weekend.”

In addition to the automatic suspension of Victor Collins – who received two yellow cards against Mervue – Devon do have injury concerns, with defenders Breen Geraghty (ankle) and James Whelan (hamstring) both in a race to be fit for this one. “I would say they are 50/50 at the moment,” says Long.

Should they fail to make it, Devon may have to rush back Sean Murphy, who has been struggling with a knee injury. They are also continuing to monitor striker Mikey Gilmore, after he had a slight reaction to his cartilage injury when undertaking a late fitness test before the Mervue game on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Mervue United – who will be looking to lift themselves following their loss to derby rivals Salthill last weekend – must face a Shelbourne outfit that inflicted a crushing 4-0 defeat on them the last time they met.

“That was our biggest defeat of the season, so we know it is going to be a tough game,” says Mervue manager Tom French. “Obviously, we are going to have to work on tightening things up.

“Not only that, though, the performance against Salthill was very disappointing. We weren’t up for it and we just went through the motions in that game. So, our performance was very disappointing in terms of attitude and application. It means that, for us, every game from now until the end of the season is a cup final.”

French’s only injury concern ahead of this one is midfielder Mike Tierney, who is struggling with a foot injury. Tierney could only manage 20 minutes against Salthill, although he did subsequently return to training on Tuesday night. The player’s fitness was to be further monitored when United took on English League Two side Port Vale in a friendly yesterday evening.

Kick-off in the Mervue United v Shelbourne Airtricity fixture at Terryland Park on Saturday evening is 7pm.