Mervue United 1 - 2 SD Galway

SD Galway secured their first win of the season in the most dramatic of circumstances as they ended a thirteen game run without a victory as Timmy Molloy fired home a cracking winner a minute from time to stun their city rivals Mervue United.

The home side will wonder how they managed to pass up three points in this game as they created by far the better chances in both halves but only managed to take one of those opportunities and surely missed the injured Alan Murphy.

An early first minute Tommy Bradshaw free-kick was saved by Ronan Forde and this proved to be the visitors only shot on target until they levelled matters with 19 minutes remaining before grabbing that vital win at the death.

Mervue should have gone in at the break in front but spurned some good chances as both Alex Lee and Etanda Nkololo failed to hit the target in the opening quarter hour.  On 16 minutes Jason Molloy won the ball back before cutting into the box an unleashing a left foot drive which struck the butt of Liam Grant’s post.

Ten minutes later and Molloy floated a free-kick into the near post were the normally reliable Pat Hoban couldn’t direct his header past Liam Grant from close range as his effort flew just wide of the near post.

Just past the half hour mark and Nicky Curran came to the visitors rescue as the fullback prevented Mike Elwood’s back post header from crossing the goal-line from a Lee corner. The home side continued the pressure on the SD Galway goal and Gary Kelly hit a low drive wide from another Lee corner before the break but the opening half failed to see the deadlock broken.

After 45 minutes of trying to unlock the visitors defence it only took Mervue six minutes to finally achieve the feat after the break. Left full Bradshaw got caught in possession as the pacy Nkololo nipped in to steal the ball before squaring across the box for Hoban to apply a cool finish past Grant into the corner for 1-0.

Nkololo then flashed a shot narrowly wide after a Stephen Walsh cross from the left picked him out in the box on 68 minutes and a minute later the home side should have doubled their lead. Another left wing cross, this time from Marc Ludden found sub Barry McEntee and his close range header somehow hit the crossbar and flew wide.

Mervue were to rue that miss as Tony Mannion made a double substitution and one of those changes levelled matters within sixty seconds of his arrival with his first touch. Molloy whipped in a dangerous corner from the left and with Mervue failing to deal with it, sub Eugene Greaney, barely on the pitch, managed to force the ball through a wall of bodies and into the corner for 1-1.

The home side were stung back into action and Nkololo laid the ball into the path of Hoban whose first time strike from the edge of the box produced an excellent save from Grant as he pushed the effort away from goal ten minutes from time.

Johnny Glynn introduced Tom King for the final seven minutes and his first piece of action saw the winger burst into the box but a great block from Willie Enubele denied him restoring the home side’s lead. As the game looked to be going the way of the first derby game with a point a piece on the cards, winger Molloy had other ideas with a minute remaining.

The young winger swapped passes with Mike Tierney before unleashing a fantastic curling effort over Forde and into the far corner for what was an unlikely win for the visitors. Mervue did pile forward in injury time but never looked like preventing a very welcome win for Mannion’s side who had battled brilliantly throughout the game for what is a big win for them.

Mervue Utd : Ronan Forde; Noel Varley, Stephen Walsh, Mike Elwood, James Casserly; Marc Ludden, Alex Lee (Barry McEntee ’61), Gary Kelly, Etanda Nkololo (Tom King ’83); Jason Molloy, Pat Hoban.
Subs not used: Conor O’Malley (GK), Shane Keogh, Martin Conneely, Brian Connolly, Andy Higgins.
Booked: None.

SD Galway: Liam Grant; Nicky Curran, Cian Fadden, Paddy Quinlan, Tommy Bradshaw (Rory Gartlan ’70); Gerry Dolan (Eugene Greaney ’70), Willie Enubele, Luke McConnell, Timmy Molloy; Enda Curran and Michael Tierney .
Subs Not Used: James Keane (GK), Fatmadh Dunisha, Brian Geraghty, Charlie Burke, David Meehan.
Booked: None.

Referee: Keith Callanan (Cork).
Attendance: 262
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Paddy Quinlan (SD Galway).