Mervue United and SD Galway target first league points

Date Published: 09-Mar-2012

 AFTER suffering narrow opening round defeats last weekend, both SD Galway FC and Mervue United will hope to pick up the first points of their Airtricity League First Division campaigns when they face Wexford Youths and Finn Harps respectively over the coming days.

This evening, SD Galway FC (or Salthill Devon to some) will host Wexford Youths in Terryland Park (7:45pm) in what should prove to be an interesting clash. For one, both SD Galway management and the players felt that they under-performed in the 2-1 defeat away to Athlone Town last Friday.

In pre-season, the side had put in a string of good performances in friendlies against Premier League of Ireland opposition, but this did not translate into their display in Lissywoollen. “We went down to Athlone with a game plan, to win obviously, and to have a cut at them, but it just didn’t happen on the night,” said captain Brian Geraghty.

“I could say the pitch was bad, but it was bad for both teams. There are no excuses. We were nil-all at half-time and the game was nicely in the balance but quite often in this league if you lose the first goal, it is hard to turn it around.

“So, we are looking at Friday evening as an opportunity to get something out of the game. Again, we were disappointing over in Athlone, after a decent pre-season, but, really, we didn’t put in a good performance last Friday and we will be hoping for a better performance against Wexford.”

That said, Wexford Youths began their First Division in high-flying fashion, registering an incredible 6-0 victory over a fancied Waterford United outfit last weekend. Thomas Elmes scored four of the goals with Aiden Keenan tallying the other two. It was an amazing turnaround in Wexford’s fortunes given they, along with Salthill Devon, were vying to avoid the ignominy of being the basement side in the First Division last season.

Meanwhile, Mervue United, who lost 1-0 at home to Longford Town last day out, travel to Finn Harps for a difficult away assignment on Saturday evening (7:45pm).

Although very disappointed to lose their first home game, manager Johnny Glynn noted that only one player who lined out in their 2011 season opener featured against Longford Town.

He highlighted that was a huge turnover in players, particularly when you consider the calibre of those who have departed Mervue, such as Rory Gaffney, John Mountney, Ger Hanley, Mike Tierney, Nicky Curran, Kevin Crehan, David O’Brien and Dan Cunningham. “They were all lads who were important to us last season,” added Glynn.

While, no more than SD Galway, it may take time to get the balance right with the class of 2012, at least Glynn can call on the services of striker Jason Molloy and former Galway United duo Alan Murphy and Stephen Walsh, all of whom missed the Longford Town defeat through suspension.

For the full preview of both match day squads see this week’s City Tribune