Athlone Town -v- Mervue United

• Davy Dully
• Sat, Mar 13 2010


Athlone will play their first Airtricity First Division home match of the season in the Athlone Town stadium on Saturday when they face Mervue United (kick- off 7.30pm). The last time the two teams met was in the 2009 LOI First Division when Mervue won out 3-1.

Athlone began their season last week with an away win against Salthill Devon while The Maroons lost out to Finn Harps on the opening day.

Brendan Place, manager of Athlone Town, said after last week’s tough opening game that he was impressed by his new look squad and in particular had praise for last year’s skipper. “It was always going to be a difficult game. Salthill’s pitch is very narrow and we had plenty of long balls pumped down our throats all night, but I thought the performance of Des Hope at centre-half was outstanding. He’s matured so much as a player and is a huge player for us.”

Place will be missing some key players ahead of the match, with Tom O Halloran out and both Robbie Benson and David Bracken doubtful. Mervue manager Tom French is aware that Athlone will be a tough prospect, “We will need to be at our best against Athlone as they have put a good side together. Their confidence will be high after beating Salthill last weekend. For us we are looking forward to getting back on the pitch. Last week was a good physical battle for us, which I believe we handled very well. It was also a good learning curve for the younger lads and will benefit us going into this week’s game. Confidence is high at the moment and the lads are pushing each other in training. With a big squad there is plenty of competition for places which gives us a few options for this week.”

Mervue welcome back the experienced Nicky Curran, David O’Dowd and Liam McKenna who were all suspended for last week’s game while Mike Tierney and Mark Ludden are also available again for selection. Dave Goldbey is definitely out though, as he is currently struggling with a knee injury.

Athlone played Tom French’s side three times last year, losing out to The Maroons on two of the three occasions, so there such be little between the sides again this time.

Venue: Athlone Town Stadium, Athlone

Referee: C. Fitzgerald

Paddypower.com Odds: Athlone 4/7, Draw 12/5, Mervue United 9/2

Athlone
Injured: Tom O Halloran, David Bracken
Doubtful: Robbie Benson
Suspended: none

Mervue United
Injured: Dave Goldbey
Doubtful: none
Suspended: none

extratime.ie Prediction: 2-1 Athlone Town should be too strong at home.