Five-star derby display from Mervue as Glynn's side claim bragging rights

Salthill Devon 0

Mervue United 5

Keith Kelly

Quite simply, men against boys. Mervue United handed cross-city rivals Salthill Devon an absolute pasting in Drom on Saturday night as they claimed local bragging rights at a canter in a hopelessly one-sided derby.

Devon came into the game on a back of a morale-boosting win over fellow strugglers Wexford Youths the previous week, but whatever confidence was gained from that basement battle win was shattered on Saturday night as Mervue dominated from first whistle to last to inflict a heaviest defeat of the season on Paul ‘Ski’ McGee’s side.

A dejected McGee understandably declined to comment after the game, but his opposite number, Johnny Glynn, was full of measured praise for his side after their own biggest win of the season.

“We were missing a number of players, and people might have thought we’d struggle without them but last week against Finn Harps we should have won the game as we created as many chances as any other game this season, and tonight we showed we are a big threat in the final third.

“It’s hard to determine if that was our best display of the season, although I think Limerick away we played better than that and lost a game we should have won. I’m very happy with our lads tonight, you could see the commitment, their skill level, their fitness level and their determination and it was a great way to bounce back from last week,” Glynn said.

The fact that Devon didn’t manage a single shot on target throughout the 90 minutes tells its own story, and the only surprise was that it took the visitors so long to open the scoring. Ronan Forde denied Peter Dravins in the 4th minute, and got down well to smother Pat Hoban’s long-range effort 11 minutes later, but he’ll have nightmares about his role in Mervue’s opener in the 29th minute.

Hoban slid a ball through for John Mountney, but with Brian Geraghty goal-side of the midfielder, there looked little danger. However Geraghty and Forde got their signals mixed-up, with the ‘keeper delaying coming off his line.

When he did, he only succeeded in driving his attempted clearance off Geraghty, and the ball fell for Dravins who slid it into the unguarded net. Mervue looked to drive home their dominance, and Hoban almost adder a second three minutes later when Mountney’s shot was deflected into his path, but while he managed to hook the ball over the advancing Forde, his effort went narrowly wide.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.