Local pride at stake

LEAGUE positions will mean little to Mervue United and Salthill Devon when they meet in an attractive Airtricity First Division fixture in Drom tomorrow (Saturday, kick-off 7pm). Pride – and pride alone – is the ultimate prize for the victors.

Predicting the outcome between these two City rivals is like looking into a crystal ball after it has just been dropped from a height into a tub of oil. Both have had their victories – moral and otherwise – in this First Division derby, with Mervue shading the exchanges with two wins, two draws and one loss to date.

Indeed, Salthill Devon’s only win over United in this league was in mid July of last year, when they won 2-0 at home and it is the spirit of that encounter that manager Paul McGee will be hoping to resurrect in Drom tomorrow.

“I just hope that home advantage can turn it for us,” said McGee. “That we can make Drom a fortress, like we did against Wexford last week. If we do that, hopefully we can get another result.”

In terms of momentum, Devon certainly have that, after claiming their second win of the season when defeating fellow strugglers Wexford Youths 2-1 at home last weekend – Emmett Shaw and Timmy Molloy netting the victors’ goals.

“It is hard work every week and the lads have to be 100% every week to hang on in there with the more experienced, professional football teams. They work very hard every week to do that and that was why I was so delighted they got the result against Wexford. They showed a lot of bottle,” praised their manager.

“You know, these are all young, local Salthill lads and not to let the heads go down, it showed a lot of bottle, a lot of strength. That is a good sign in any team. They battled hard but we played a lot of good football as well. We battled when we had to battle and we played football when we had to play football.”

Psychologically, it was their most valuable result of the season to date and this was certainly not lost on McGee.

“If we had lost last week, we would have been six points adrift at the bottom of the table. Instead, we are level on points with Wexford and now there is something there for us to fight for.

While Salthill Devon will look to harness that feel-good factor, the motives of Mervue United, who lost to Finn Harps 2-0 last weekend, will be a lot different. “The last time we played them in Mervue, we missed two penalties, but you know! That’s a local derby,” conceded manager Johnny Glynn, as he recalled that scoreless draw last May.

“If we were top of the league, though, you still wouldn’t know what will happen on Saturday because it’s a derby. Salthill will be on a high after their great win over Wexford and they showed great spirit to win after going a goal down.”

Indeed, Mervue come into this tie in a very different frame of mind. In addition to the loss against Finn Harps, they suffered a plethora of injuries, resulting in three players alone having to be withdrawn from last weekend’s action.

For more of this derby preview see this week’s City Tribune