Date Published: 23-May-2011

Salthill Devon 0

Mervue United 0

RONAN FORDE was the hero for Salthill Devon as the young stopper saved two penalties in the Galway derby to deny Mervue United their third consecutive home win of the season and keep Devon undefeated under new manager Paul McGee.

A crowd of over 600 turned out to watch the latest instalment of clashes between these two great rivals, with the hosts carrying the burden of favourites despite Devon’s fine away win at Wexford Youths a week previous.

As evident early nerves crept through both teams, Mervue used the stiff breeze to their advantage and carried most of their attacking threat on the left wing in the form of Dan Cunningham and Rory Gaffney.

Devon, however, looked organised, especially with skipper James Whelan reinstated at the heart of the defence after missing most of the season through injury. McGee toyed with tactics and Eugene Greaney was placed in the centre of midfield, away from his usual home of left back which was now inhabited by Ronan Conlon.

An intriguing and enjoyable battle was soon underway on the right hand side between Mervue’s Tom King and Gearoid O’Leidhinn who wore Devon’s changed kit of green.

The first real swift attack fell Mervue’s way after just 11 minutes when Mark Ludden picked up a through pass from Cunningham, and Molloy soon broke free to intercept from Cunningham, but his first-time attempted lob sailed well over. This was a glimpse of what Johnny Glynn’s side are capable of when they get into gear on the offence.

Lack of a clear-cut chance continued through most of the half, with Mervue patiently trying to break Devon down; and the visitors defending with good purpose and composure.

But on 32 minutes, the inevitable first bit of drama finally arrived when Cunningham cut into the box and darted towards goal, only to be thwarted by Conlon giving referee Darren Coombes no choice but to award the first spot-kick of the evening.

Up stepped Jason Molloy, who was no doubt still oozing with confidence following his classy brace against Monaghan three weeks ago. As he pulled the trigger and fired towards the top-left corner, Forde was airborne almost immediately to spectacularly palm onto the crossbar to keep the game scoreless, much to the delight of those in sky blue who travelled across town in the hope of coming away with much needed points.

Almost immediately, Mervue had a greater urge to take the lead and almost did so when Molloy went on a trademark run up the right hand side as he was sent on his way by Ludden, and his inch-perfect cross was met by the boot of King whose effort was frantically cleared off the line by Whelan who was a rock at the back.

On the stroke of half time, Salthill almost made Mervue pay for losing possession when bright spark Etanda Nkolo raced ahead of his marker and pulled it back to Conlon. Luke McConnell had now advanced to the danger zone only for Dan Cuningham to produce a wonderful tackle to cleanly win the ball and ensure that all was square at the interval.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.