Mervue hit for six but Devon miss chance to overtake them in table

Date Published: {J}

Mervue United 1

Waterford United 6

Mervue United suffered a ninth successive league defeat on Friday night when they were no match for a rampant Waterford United side, but city rivals Salthill Devon failed to take advantage when they conceded a late winner to Wexford Youths to leave Ferrycarrig Park empty-handed.

The wheels haven’t so much come off as completely disintegrated for Mervue, though they were still very much in with a shout at half time on Friday night when they only trailed by the odd goal in three.

However it was a different story in the second half as the visitors kept up the pressure at the top of the table with a win that sees them just four points behind joint leaders Derry City and Monaghan United, with just six games remaining.

Stephen Henderson’s side got off to a perfect start when John Kearney fired them in front after just 90 seconds, getting on the end of Timmy Purcell’s header to beat Ger Hanley from 15 yards.

However Mervue didn’t let their heads drop, and were level within 10 minutes when a period of sustained pressure eventually yielded an equaliser. Alex Lee’s corner picked out Kevin Crehan, who saw his header cleared off the line by Purcell.

The ball fell for Eric Browne, whose effort was blocked, but the ball broke for Dave Goldbey and he blasted home from close range, but that was to be as good as it got for the home side on the night.

The visitors got their noses back in front 10 minutes before the break when Willie John Kiely bundled home what turned out to be the first of his hat-trick when Hanley failed to hold Alan Carey’s powerful free-kick.

Again Mervue came back at their opponents, but the closest they came to a second equaliser was when Seamus Long sliced his attempted clearance of Mark Ludden’s cross, but the ball flew the far side of the posts for nothing more serious than a corner.

Waterford responded to this pressure by putting the game beyond the hosts with two goals in three minutes. Kevin Murray made it 3-1 when nodding home Carey’s free in the 66th minute, and Purcell extended the lead in the 69th minute when racing clear onto Gary Dunphy’s ball to fire past Hanley.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.