Mervue aiming to stop Athlone’s march to title

MERVUE United will look to spice up the race for the First Division Airtricity League title when they host league leaders Athlone Town at Fahy’s Field this evening, Friday (7:45pm).

Athlone Town closed in on the title with a superb 1-0 away victory over Longford Town in last weekend’s pivotal top of the table clash to open up a five-point gap over their midland rivals at the summit of the First Division.

However, Mervue, who lost ground on the leaders themselves following a scoreless draw against Wexford Youths, could blow open the title race again – after this weekend there will be just six games remaining – if they can secure a victory at home this evening.

Going into this one, Mervue will need little reminding that Athlone Town inflicted a 3-0 defeat on them when they last met in June – despite the fact that the two sides had played out draws home and away in their previous two league meetings this season.

Mervue will be buoyed by the return of offensive duo Ryan Manning and Jason Molloy, both of whom were suspended for last weekend’s fixture, while Gary Curran (calf) and Gary Kelly (groin) should be back in contention for game time following their respective injuries.

Still, given Mervue have failed to secure a win in their last two games against Cobh Ramblers and Wexford Youths, boss Johnny Glynn will be calling on his charges to lift their level of display against the league leaders this evening.

“We were disappointed [with last weekend’s scoreless draw against Wexford] but we had two lads suspended and others injured,” notes Glynn. “That said, Michael Duffy, Brendan Lavelle, Ross Kenny and Barry O’Mahoney came in and they were lads with little or no League of Ireland experience and they did very well. So, it was a credit to them that they could make the step up to play at this level.

For a full preview of this and Salthill Devon’s fixture see this week’s City Tribune here