Derry City 7 - 1 Mervue United

Derry City started as they meant to go on with wave after wave of early pressure and Stephen McLaughlin, Pat McEleney and David McDaid all went close to opening the scoring. It wasn't until the 15th minute that Derry got the goal their early play had merited however.

A deep Simon Madden corner was swung in and McDaid glanced a header across Conor Gleeson which nestled in the corner of the goal. It was one way traffic from this moment on with the superb Simon Madden getting plenty of joy on the right flank putting in cross after cross which the attackers failed to convert. In the 34th minute another excellent Madden delivery found Stephen McLaughlin who blasted a great volley which managed to hit Mark Farren before going out for a goal kick.

A minute later yet another Madden cross eluded the Mervue defenders and Mark Farren controlled it well and rolled it in for Derrys second of the night. The moment of the match and possibly the season came in the 40th minute. Patrick McEleney picked up the ball on the half way line, nudged it forward before spotting Gleeson off his line and chipping the helpless Mervue keeper. It was a marvellous bit of vision from the skilful Irish U-19 international. Derry continued to pummel the Mervue goal and a Stephen McLaughlin cross just eluded Farren and McDaid in the 43rd minute.

At this juncture Johnny Glynn was very relieved when the referee blew for half time.Derry began the second period much as they had ended the first with Madden again prominent. But in the 52nd minute against the run of play Pat Horan escaped a double tackle from Molloy and McNamee and cracked a superb 35yd strike past a despairing Gerard Doherty dive. Mervue seemed to pick up the pace immediately after this, but any hopes of a comeback were extinguished in the 56th minute when the impressive Barry McNamee clipped a ball through the Mervue defence which found David McDaid who in turn made no mistake from 6yds.

Derry City were now rampant and in the 60th minute a poor backpass led to Mark Farren being one on one with Gleeson and he smashed it past the beleaguered netminder. A mere minute later Farren again found himself with only Gleeson to beat and a lovely side footed finish saw him beat Liam Coyles all time Derry City goalscoring record. Mervue were completely demoralised now and inevitably Derry added a further goal when substitute Ryan Curran tapped in from a well placed McDaid cross.

The remainder of the game saw a few half chances for the home side and Declan Devine will be absolutely delighted with the clinical display his men put on en route to their place in the draw for the semi finals.

 

Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Simon Madden, Shane McEleney, Ryan McBride, Dermot McCaffrey; Patrick McEleney (Marc Brolly 64), Barry McNamee, Barry Molloy(c), Stephen McLaughlin (Ryan Curran 64); Mark Farren (Kevin Deery 78), David McDaid.
Subs not used: Eugene Ferry, Michael Duffy, Caoimhin Bonner.

 

Mervue United: Conor Gleeson; Michael McSweeney, Cian McBrien, Michael Elwood (c) (Martin Conneely 64), Steven Walsh; Shane Keogh, Tom King, Noel Varley, Jason Molloy, Jean Biansumba; Pat Horan.
Subs not used: Andy Higgins, Brian Connolly, Damien O'Rourke, Etanda Nkololo, Daniel Cunningham, Ger Hanley.

 

Referee: Tomas Connolly .
Attendance: 1,200 (estimate).
ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Mark Farren (Derry City).