Mervue United and SD Galway bid to forget league woes

 While the fortunes of Mervue United and SD Galway in the Airtricity First Division have been far from inspiring, the two City clubs have the opportunity to reignite their season when they face off in the second round of the FAI Ford Cup at Terryland Park this evening (Friday) at 7:45pm.

Both sides have really struggled to stamp their authority on the Airtricity League First Division this season and, consequently, basement outfit SD Galway and Mervue United prop up the bottom of the table.

In fairness to Mervue, they have begun to show some form of late and this was substantiated when they defeated Wexford Youths 3-0 at home last weekend. That victory widened the gap between them and SD Galway, who lost 1-0 away to league leaders Longford Town, to five points and, even more importantly, narrowed the deficit on Finn Harps above them to four.

“Yeah, we are coming off the back of a win, which is a bit of a boost but we still have to remain very focused on this game,” says Mervue boss Johnny Glynn. “It is a big game for both of us and I am expecting that it will be tight on the night. I think the lads, though, are really looking forward to it.”

That said, Mervue will be without a number of players for this tie, including goalkeeper Brian O’Donoghue (hand) and defenders Martin Conneely (groin) and Kenny Farrell (ankle). There is also a major doubt over striker Tom King – who has not long returned from a cruciate injury – as he was suffering from an illness earlier in the week.

Still, Mervue United will be determined to build on the momentum of last weekend’s win although it remains to be seen if that victory can kick-start a run. “It is hard to say,” concedes Glynn. “We played well last Friday, although Wexford Youths were missing a couple of players. That said, we have won both of our last home games 3-0 against Finn Harps and Wexford and now we just have to improve on our form away from home. That starts on Friday night.”

As for SD Galway, they, quite possibly, could have a quartet of players back available to them. Colm Horgan missed the defeat to Longford due to graduation; James Keane and Paddy Quinlan – the latter of whom scored in Salthill Devon’s last FAI Cup game in 2011 – return from back and knee injuries respectively; and Mixie Harty has recovered from illness.

No doubt, these are positive developments for SD Galway ahead of the crucial clash against their local rivals. However, despite that this is a local derby, that a place in the next round of the prestigious Cup competition is at stake, and a victory would be a timely confidence boost to his squad, manager Tony Mannion insists his charges must approach this game like they would any other.

“Sometimes people say ‘wouldn’t it be great to go on a run in the Cup’ but I don’t accept that because I believe you should be going out and playing every game in the same way, be it Cup or League. So, if you are going to have a good run in the Cup, why not go on a run in the League. I know that might seem like a very simplistic approach but I believe you should be applying yourself in the same manner week in, week out. Those are my feelings on it. Every game is important,” says Mannion.

That said, he agrees Cup games – particularly derby ties – do take on a life of their own and given there was little to separate Mervue and SD Galway in the League – it finished 2-2 – he expects this contest to be no different.

“Both clubs are closely matched and I think in that League game the standard of football was quite good. I was certainly very pleased with the way we played and I thought we passed the ball around well and were competitive. The form book, though, does go out the window and these games do take on a life of their own but you expect that.”

For SD Galway’s part, they have put in some credible performances in the League but just cannot, for the life of them, pick off the points.

“We played quite well in patches against Limerick and we played really well away to Longford. However, again, it comes down to us giving away really soft goals,” says Mannion.

“That said, last weekend, the Longford goalkeeper (Craig Hyland) was man of the match and I don’t think we received just reward for our endeavour. Week in, week out, we are improving. We are getting better. We are more competitive and the players, themselves, feel like they are making a lot of progress. They just need something tangible now like a win.”

In truth, both could do with securing a victory this evening, if only to dispel the nightmares of last year’s competition. Mervue bowed out when losing 4-0 away to Drogheda United. At that time, Glynn’s outfit were enjoying life mid-table while a then struggling Drogheda had just won their first league game of their campaign against lowly Galway United the week previous. A shock was a distinct possibility but in the end Mervue bowed tamely out of the Cup with a 4-0 defeat.

One of the shocks of the round, however, involved Salthill Devon. Having begun to change their fortunes around with the appointment of Paul McGee as manager, their 2-1 defeat to AUL side Sherriff YC almost beggared belief. Granted, the inner-city Dublin outfit had three Futsal internationals in their squad – Tony Kane, Alan McCabe and Stephen Murphy – and had won the AUL Premier ‘A’ title but they should not have come away from Drom with the victory. Yet, this they did.