Devon defeat Shelbourne as GUST grab late point against Mervue Utd

Date Published: 22-Oct-2012

After a listless opening half that saw them trail Shelbourne at the break, Salthill Devon turned matters around on the resumption to register an impressive 2-1 win in the Airtricity U-19 Elite Division.

Meanwhile in the Airtricity First Division, matters looked to be very much going the way of Mervue United as they led Galway United Supporters’ Trust FC by 3-1 as the game entered additional time, but in an amazing turnaround, the visitors scored twice in the closing minutes to level matters at 3-3.

Salthill Devon 2

Shelbourne 1

As to be expected from two teams playing at this level, the football produced in the first half was from the modern coaching manual. The sides patted the ball sideways and backwards and anywhere except forward and it appeared they gave little thought of attacking on goal.

Functional football with no threat at either end produced a dull half, although an Alan Prizeman strike on 21 minutes gave the visitors the lead, while just a Colm Horgan cross shot extended the custodian at the other end in what were the only efforts on goal in the half.

Devon enjoyed the majority of possession, but with the visitors dropping deep in numbers, there was no way through.

The game needed something to bring it to life, and it came in the 53rd minute when the home side hit the equaliser. A Timmy Molloy corner was returned to him for a second offering, and on this occasion, his delivery was headed firmly home at the far post by Alex Byrne to tie up matters at 1-1.

The winner four minutes from time came from a cracking finish by central midfielder Jason Murphy. A burse of pace took him past a few challengers as he ran through the middle before burying a low finish in the bottom corner to give the home side a merited win and moved them into a more comfortable mid-table position.

The Dublin’s sides defeat deprived them of moving into second place in the table.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.