Rangers held by Bernards as Hibs stun Mervue Utd

Over the opening three months of the season, Hibernians and St Bernard’s had done little to create any excitement for themselves, never mind anyone else, but that all changed on Sunday when both sides did the whole Premier League a huge favour as they ended the impeccable records of Mervue United and Corrib Rangers.

If the Abbeyknockmoy side upset Rangers as matters finished level at Westside, it was in Fahy’s Field where all the drama was unfolding as the Bohermore outfit overturned an interval deficit to eventually prevail on a 4-2 scoreline.

The outcome sees Corrib Rangers now lead Mervue United by a point at the top of the table, while the results allowed Hibernians and Athenry make significant moves up a table that is more congested at the bottom than at the top.

Mervue United 2Hibernians 4

A game between these two old rivals will always up the ante, and despite trailing at the break, the visitors were offering a huge threat and if they had taken their chances could have gone in at the break ahead.

Mervue made the only breakthrough of the opening half on 22 minutes when Colie Kelly fired home after an initial free-kick came back to him outside the box.

The fightback kicked in quickly after the interval when Dave Devlin levelled matters, but in a major turning point minutes later, a Paul Sinnott effort clipped the crossbar and almost immediately Hibernians made it 2-1 at the other end, when Ollie Keogh cut in from the flank before firing past Cillian Murphy.

The action was fast and frantic, but the visitors had an edge about them and in a rampant spell, Keogh crossed from the left and Devlin fired home his second of the day from close range.

Very quickly, they made it 4-1 when Aarron McGinty picked up a Keith Ward pass before he worked his way into the box to blast past Murphy.

There was still some fight left in the home challenge as Dara Ryan finished off an Aaron Finnerty cross at the far post. However that was as good as it got for the home side, and the outcome was a merited win for the visitors.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.