By Mike Rafferty

MERVUE United and Salthill Devon produced impressive performances over the weekend when advancing to the last 16 of the FAI Junior Cup with victories over Letterkenny Rovers and Douglas Hall respectively.

In the Premier League there was no shortage of goals as Colga nicked a late winner away against Athenry, while Maree/Oranmore struck an additional time equaliser to grab a share of the spoils against Moyne Villa.

In the Championship, Maree-Oranmore B retained their top spot with an away victory in An Cheathrú Rua, while Corrib Celtic and St Bernard’s maintained their promotion challenge with comfortable wins.

The top three were all in action in Division One, but with leaders Salthill Devon B dropping points when held to a draw against Cregmore-Claregalway, it was just Colga B who took advantage with a success over Oughterard.

Bearna Na Forbacha were making it eight wins in succession with a convincing away success over Corrib Celtic B and, in the process, joined Kiltullagh at the top of the Division Two table.

Premier League

Aided by a Callum Browne hat trick, Colga came from two down early on to record a 4-3 away win over Athenry to move into joint third position in the Premier Division table. Goals by Adam Molloy and Adam Duffy gave the home side a reward for a solid start, before Browne responded by scoring twice to level matters.

However, it was Athenry who had the final scoring say of the half when Cathal Fahy fired home a free kick to give them a 3-2 interval advantage. In a good open contest in which both sides played their part, it was Sean McCoy who levelled matters for Colga on the resumption, before Browne fired home a cracking long range effort past TJ Forde for the late winner.

For the second home game in succession, Moyne Villa missed an opportunity to go second in the table when they were held to a 3-3 draw by Maree-Oranmore. Mind you, it was the visitors who led twice through goals from Colm Whelan and Liam McDonagh, but on each occasion efforts from Adam Nugent and Thomas Newell levelled matters as the half finished at 2-2.

In the second half, Gusi Khumalo got on the end of an Aidan Coyle free kick to put Villa 3-2 ahead. It looked like they might hold on until Whelan struck for a late equaliser from a free kick to give Maree-Oranmore a merited share of the spoils.

In the remaining game, Loughrea had just a Thomas Hoban goal to show for their efforts when going down by 3-1 at home against University of Galway. Paul Healy (pen), Adam Finn Campbell and Ethan Fiorentini were all on the mark for the College side as the win gave them a little more breathing space further away from the relegation zone.

Pictured: The Athenry FC team which was defeated by Salthill Devon in Sunday’s U-16 Premier Division game in Drom. Front row, from left, Claragh Shryne, Ailbhe Mannion, Tegan Kilkenny, Nicole Mitchell, Lily Mae Feeney and Anna Jordan. Back row: Isobel Nyham, Aoibhin Hannon, Áine Duffy, Cadhla Fox, Katie Murphy, Brooke Corcoran, Angel Gbadamosi and Megan Crimmons.