Athlone Town 1 - 0 Mervue United

• Terry Flaherty
• Sun, Aug 22 2010


Athlone Town registered their first win since May and in the process inflicted a seventh straight league defeat on Mervue Utd following their 1-0 win courtesy of a second half winner from recent signing Andy Haran.

This was Haran’s second goal in a week since signing from St. Patrick’s Athletic following his second half equaliser against Salthill Devon last weekend. Amazingly all three games between these two sides this season have ended with a 1-0 scoreline, Athlone winning by that score twice at home and Mervue winning in Terryland by a single score.

Mervue started very brightly as Rory Gaffney’s strike from 25 yards after seven minutes had Michael Schlingermann in trouble as it took two attempts for the home keeper to stop the wingers on target effort. Evan Connolly then headed over a good delivery from Alex Lee’s left wing cross, while Dave Goldbey had the ball in the net on 11 minutes but the assistant’s flag ruled it out for offside.

Athlone then created the best chance of the half a minute later when Gareth Kenna released Haran through on goals and the striker rounded the advancing Ger Hanley with ease before firing his effort into the side netting with an open goal at his mercy.

The visitors responded to this let off with Gaffney striking a well struck free-kick off the home team’s crossbar two minutes later and Martin Conneely headed wide at the back post as Mervue continued to look lively.

Another Gaffney free-kick on 27 minutes was curled around the wall but Schlingermann was equal to it as he pushed it away for a corner. At the other end McEvoy hit his first time effort from a Declan O’Brien cross straight at Hanley, while O’Brien’s attempted lob on the half hour mark sailed over the crossbar.

Good play on 35 minutes between Haran and O’Brien saw the latter get a sight on goals but he shot over from a tight angle with just Hanley to beat. A minute before the break and Gaffney once again curled another free-kick around the home wall only to see his effort just clear Schlingermann’s crossbar.

A minute into first half injury time and Gaffney raced past full back Wayne Colbert and into the box but his effort was straight at the home keeper as the sides somehow went in scoreless at the break. The home team almost took the lead just 3 minutes after the re-start following an excellent ball by O’Brien to get Shane Fitzgerald away down the right wing and his low delivery picked out an in-rushing Haran who flicked his effort onto the crossbar.

The deadlock was finally broken by the home team on the hour mark after they won a corner on the right. McEvoy’s delivery wasn’t great but Kevin Crehan’s attempted clearance fell to a lurking Haran who made no mistake blasting home from just inside the box as he made up for his first half miss. Athlone almost doubled their lead a minute later when McEvoy got on the end of another Fitzgerald delivery into the six yard box but Hanley made a brilliant point blank stop pushing the ball away to safety.

Another good Athlone move down the right saw Fitzgerald pull the ball back to O’Brien but he saw his low effort go just the wrong side of Hanley’s post on 68 minutes as the home team were enjoying their best period of the game.

Mervue made a number of changes but never really threatened as they did in a lively first half and the closest they came to gaining parity was from another Gaffney free-kick as he forced Schlingermann to push another on target effort around the post for a corner. Athlone almost added a second in injury time after sub Barry McEntee left his header back to keeper Hanley short and Robbie Farrell nipped in to pick up the ball but he completely miss-hit his shot.

A second 1-0 defeat for Mervue in a week and more worryingly a seventh straight league defeat and with Salthill picking up points, Tom French’s side will need to start putting points on the board to stay ahead of their city rivals and off the bottom of the table.

Athlone on the other hand will be relieved to have finally put a win on the board after a barren two and half months without a win and have now moved thirteen points clear of Mervue at the bottom half of the First Division table. Both teams now have a break for two weeks due to the FAI Cup fourth taking place next weekend.

Mervue United: Ger Hanley; Kevin Crehan, Darren Young (Mark Ludden 59'), Martin Conneely, Eric Browne, Ollie Keogh (Barry McEntee 74'), Rory Gaffney, Simon Walsh, Evan Connolly, David Goldbey and Alex Lee (Enda Curran 65').
Subs not used: Michael Collins, and Aongus Tierney.
Booked: Darren Young (32'), Ollie Keogh (74')

Athlone Town: Michael Schlingermann; Mark Nolan, Wayne Colbert, Brian McCarthy, David Breen; Denis Moran, Shane Fitzgerald (Richie O’Hanlon 82'), Andy Haran, Gareth Kenna (Des Hope 85'), Declan O’Brien (Robbie Farrell 75'), Ryan McEvoy.
Subs not used: Ciaran Moloney and Scott Gaynor.
Booked: Brian McCarthy (27'), Wayne Colbert (90')

Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford)
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Andy Haran (Athlone) – Scored the winning goal that proved decisive and looked lively all night.