Mervue United -v- Salthill Devon

• Terry Flaherty
• Sat, Apr 24 2010


An historic occasion will take place in Terryland Park on Saturday evening as two Galway sides will meet in League of Ireland history for the first time as Mervue Utd host city rivals Salthill Devon with a 7 p.m. kick-off.

Both sides are only new additions to the national league set-up, with Mervue joining the senior ranks last season, while Salthill made their debut this season to much talk that three Airtricity League clubs in the city was too much.

Both have not had good starts to the campaign with thirteen defeats racked up in fourteen games by both sides. Mervue’s 1-1 draw in their opening game with Limerick the only positive result achieved to date by the home team as they have suffered six defeats on the bounce. Salthill have endured seven straight losses in a tough baptism of fire in the league.

Mervue though find themselves bottom of the table going into the game after Salthill were awarded the three points by the Independent Disciplinary Committee, as they ruled that Wexford Youths had breached the FAI Rule Book by fielding an ineligible player in their 2-1 win two weeks ago. As a result of this indiscretion, Wexford have forfeited that game and Salthill were awarded a 3-0 victory which is a timely boost going into the eagerly awaited first western city derby game.

The home side will go into the game as the bookies favourites but that tag will go out the window once this game kicks off, as these two sides know each other very well and this game is likely to be played like a cup tie with not only points at stake but bragging rights as well.

Mervue manager Tom French will welcome back Darren Young from suspension, while all the club’s Youth team players will also be once again available to him following their FAI Youth Cup semi-final win over Newbridge Town last Sunday. That means Dan Cunningham, Enda Curran, Pat Hoban, Paul Scally and Mike Elwood could all return to the squad. Ollie Keogh will not feature due to an additional one match ban following his red card against Cork City while David Goldbey remains on the sidelines as he is still recovering from an ankle operation.

Following last week’s disappointment were Salthill let a two goal advantage slip before going down 3-2 to a last minute strike from Limerick’s Shane Clarke, they will be without Sean Murphy who saw red in that game. Shane Browne will also miss the game through suspension following an additional two game ban.

Mervue also lost out late in their game away to Longford last weekend as the home team struck late to deny them a share of the points with a very late winner, after a controversial strike from Eric Browne looked to have secure a point.

Hopefully a game that will finally draw a decent crowd to the Dyke Road for a game that should not be for the fainted hearted and should make interesting viewing. A win for the home side will see them jump above their visitors once again in the table, while a win for Seasiders will see the home side cut adrift at the foot of the table, something they will be keen to avoid.

Extratime.ie Prediction: 2-1 to the more experienced home side.