No way back for Mervue after Curran’s screamer

Date Published: 13-Oct-2009

IF there was ever any confusion as to why Mervue United and Longford Town were languishing near the bottom of the Division One table, all was made clear in Terryland Park on Friday night after a dull performance by both sides saw Longford win by the slimmest of margins.

A first half Garry Curran goal was the only piece of magic in an otherwise forgettable encounter that saw few decent chances being made by either side throughout the 90 minutes. The result means that Longford have now overtaken Athlone to take ninth place on the table, keeping Mervue in 11th.

While Mervue’s squad was at full strength for the encounter, the home side failed to take advantage of the absence of Longford’s first choice goalkeeper Danny O’Leary. In his place came Aaron Shanahan, but neither he nor his Mervue counterpart Eoin Martin had much to do in the opening 20 minutes, with chances few and far between.

Mervue’s Rory Gaffney almost gave the crowd cause for excitement when a dartingrun down the wing on 23 minutes saw a shot across the box that was deflected out by the Town’s Kevin Cronin. A free kick by Longford’s Michael Foley three minutes later saw the ball float inches over the crossbar, but otherwise it seemed that, at the half-hour mark, this game was already in a comatose state.

But then a…