Even Mervue boss Glynn surprised by 4-nil cup win

Date Published: 06-Sep-2012

ROY Keane may live by the maxim “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”, but Mervue United made a mockery of that line of thinking on Monday night when they hammered Waterford United 4-0 in the FAI Cup to book a quarter-final against Derry City in the Brandywell this night week, September 14.

Having seen the two previous attempts to play their Fourth Round tie at the RSC in Waterford stymied by the weather, Johnny Glynn’s side finally made the long trek to the south-east on Monday for a game for which the manager admits his side’s preparations were far from ideal.

“Having to travel down on a Monday, we left that bit later to give lads a chance to get off work or finish college or whatever. We had our team meal on the bus, and as we got closer to the ground, we had our team-talk on the bus as well, but it all worked out,” says Glynn, who admits he was surprised by the final result.

“If I am totally honest, I was surprised by the scoreline, I don’t think anyone can say they expected that. They put out a very strong side, and we were missing a lot of lads – Mike Elwood, Cian McBrien and Dan Cunningham were all unavailable because of work commitments, and Martin Conneely had college, so we were down a few regulars.

“In one way, though, I think the fact they picked such a strong team worked in our favour – their more established players didn’t really give them anything, whereas if they put out a few younger lads, there might have been that bit more hunger from them.

“I’m certainly not complaining though. Obviously with the game having been postponed, the draw had been made and we knew the winners were away to Derry in the quarter-finals, and I just think our lads showed that bit more hunger to play Derry than they did,” Glynn says.

Mervue opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a stunning bicycle-kick from Pat Hoban, which Glynn admits was his side’s sole chance in the first half, but once Jean Biansumba added a second in the 57th minute, the game opened up as Waterford pressed for a way back into the tie, which left gaps at the back.

“When we got our second goal, they switched to a 3-4-3 formation as they went chasing the game, and that obviously left them exposed at the back. I might have been surprised at the scoreline, but certainly not at the performance – we have been threatening a big display for a while, and it was nice to get it in the Cup,” Glynn says.

The win was sealed when Etanda Nkololo scored twice in the space of 60 seconds, beating the offside trap to fire past Packie Holden in the 83rd minute, and grabbing his second a minute later when his pace once again did for the Waterford defence.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.