Mervue Utd chase national honours in U-14 Cup decider

Mervue United will be chasing a fifth national title this Sunday afternoon when the U-14 side face St Francis in the final of the SFAI Goodson Cup at 2pm, in Jackson Park, Kiltiernan.

Unbeaten all season, Rynal Browne and Damien Brennan’s side have already annexed a hat-trick of trophies, with success in the local league and cup, while this was topped off with a Connacht Cup final victory over Castlebar Celtic last week.

The striking feature of their campaign has been the amount of goals scored – the front two of Aaron Connolly and captain Ronan Manning have been lethal and between them, the duo have scored 15 goals between them in the last four games alone. Winger Adam Kelleher might be the provider for many of those scores, but he is a fair finisher himself, as he contributed five in the same spell.

Mervue United advanced from the provincial side of the draw with wins over Benbulben FC (3-1), Hodson Bay (8-2) and Castlebar Celtic (2-1) and then continued their feats on the national stage with wins over New Oak of Carlow (9-0), Kilcornan FC of Limerick (7-2), before a Connolly hat-trick helped them to a 4-0 away quarterfinal success over Kildare Town.

In the semi-final, they had to work very hard for a 3-1 victory over a good North End United side from Wexford, with Connolly (two) and Colin Kelly on the mark.

Throughout the campaign, Cian Mulryan has been top class in performing his goalkeeping role, while Daniel Brennan, Sean O’Brien, Adam Rooney and Wilson Wawaru have afforded him plenty of protection in their defensive duties.

In midfield, Ronan Asgari has led by example, as Jason Gorham, Colin Kelly and Kelleher have all added to the talent available.

On Sunday, Mervue United will face Dublin side, St Francis side who defeated Belvedere FC on penalties in the semi-final, after their game finished level at 1-1 following extra time.

Mervue will be hoping to capture a cup they last won in 2006 when the likes of Mike Elwood, Stephen Folan, Greg and Dan Cunningham were all part of the side.

Formore, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.