Athlone Town pounce late to condemn Devon to eighth defeat of the season

Salthill Devon 1
Athlone Town 2

Jason Byrne at Drom

Last month Athlone Town came to Galway and robbed Mervue United of a win with a dubious stoppage time penalty. On Friday night at Drom, Salthill Devon were made suffer by the same side, as once again Roddy Collins left the City of the Tribes with points his team simply did not deserve.

Both teams fought hard, both had chances and both deserved to walk away with what would have been a fair point each, before another last-gasp goal saw the Midlanders cruelly rob Salthill of a precious point thanks to Philip Gorman’s header in the 90th minute. John Brennan and co must be wondering what exactly it is they must do to find some luck.

Star man Derek O’Brien was forced to watch from the sidelines due to suspension, with Jakub Tomanica returning from a ban to take his place on the right flank.

Devon started brightest, and the first incident of note was Athlone keeper Paul Skinner picking the ball out of the net in the ninth minute. Tomanica picked up a loose ball deep in the Athlone and ignored the screams of Enda Curran crying for the ball to wonderfully ping it into the top corner after making a fool of Roddy Collins junior.

Minutes later Athlone had their first meaningful effort in the form of a Mark Hughes free-kick which curled wide; while a dangerous Barry Clancy free in the 20th minute was headed clear by Brian Geraghty, who was looking solid at centre-half.

Athlone were on the prowl for an equaliser again a minute later when Tomanica lost the ball to Garbhan Coughlan, who crossed for Philip Gorman, but Devon skipper Robbie Gaul promptly won it back with a solid sliding tackle.

At the other end Willie Enubele broke free and with Curran making a central run, Enubele opted for goal himself but his tame effort failed to really trouble Skinner, who caught with ease.

Curran then curled a free kick within range inches wide, as he looked eager to bag a goal against the side he scored a hat-trick against in the 3-3 draw between the sides back in March.

Athlone had the final chances of the half – firstly Gary Clancy’s effort was tipped over by James Keane, and then Clancy played in Hughes but again Geraghty was at hand to win the ball back for Devon who led 1-0 at the break.

However, Athlone drew level 10 minutes after the break when Ian Sweeney scored for the third game in a row, his shot from the edge of the area catching Keane by surprise to sail into the bottom right corner.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.