Monaghan United v Mervue United

It’s the battle of the Uniteds this week when Galway City side Mervue United visit Gortakeegan.  Mervue come into this game after a tough home encounter last week when they went down by the single goal of the game to much fancied side Shelbourne and indeed didn’t concede until the 78th minute having had a number of chances themselves earlier.

From their point of view Mervue would be at the wrong end of the table but being only their second year in the league they deserve a lot of credit, by no means are they a push over side and we discovered that in our last encounter against them at Terryland Park when we had to settle for a 1-1 draw.  Mervue’s best results so far of the season were victories over Finn Harps, Athlone Town and Longford Tow! n. After a sustained period of pressure by Monaghan they conceded an ‘own goal’ which was a contender for ‘the what happened next’ category and then had to face a ten man blanket defence for the remainder of the game and it nearly paid off for Mervue because they held out until the 83rd minute before Monaghan got back on terms and they did even better for the remainder of the game to deny Monaghan the lead. Apart from the blanket defence Monaghan who like to play the ball on the ground were frustrated by a pitch which had a deplorable surface. Last season Mervue snatched a victory here at Gortakeegan and they will feel confident that they can repeat the feat.

As for Monaghan United they are definitely on the crest of a wave, they have put an excellent run of results together which included taking full points against Cork and Waterford and sharing the spoils with Limerick. In their last game which was against Limerick at Jackman Park, United were somewhat slow to get out of the traps but when they did there was only one team in it and having conceded the lead and getting back on terms they were denied victory by poor decisions from the referee.  Monaghan are still contenders for promotion being in joint second place with Waterford United, so there will be no doubt but that they will be up for this game and will be settling for nothing less than three points. Last week Monaghan had to make do without Aidan Lynch and Brian Gartland, not many sides coul! d do without two such powerful defenders but such is the depth of United bench that there absence was hardly noticed.  Mick Cooke has further strengthened his panel with the recent signings of midfielder O’ Neill and keeper. O’Neill made his debut at right back against Cork City and he looked very comfortable. Has yet to make his debut and with the way Gabriel Sava has been playing all season I’m sure he is wondering when he will get a start.

Limerick FC 1 – 1 Monaghan United

Having suffered what they believed was a humiliating loss at Wexford Youths last weekend Limerick came into this game like a wounded animal and they wanted to redeem themselves in front of their 500 hundred supporters against Monaghan United at Jackman Park.  They also had the incentives of a victory bringing them level with their visitors in second position in the table and ending United’s impressive unbeaten away record.

The home side were fast out of the traps and endeavoured to set siege on the United area. Alan Byrne put his body on the line to prevent Timmy Kiely’s goal ward bound effort.  Limerick had a couple of corners with which they continued the pressure.  In the tenth minute Monaghan had the first of only a few chances that would come their way in the opening half, Sean Brennan played Barry Clancy through and his effort from the corner of the 6-yard area went wide of the post.  The first real attempt of the game fell to Sean Kelly in the 14^th minute and it was a powerful strike which was tipped over by keeper Gabriel Sava.  Limerick continued to apply the pres! sure but couldn’t get through the tight United rearguard and in the end it was an overhead delivery that delivered the opening goal for them, Daryl Kavanagh found the head of Sean Kelly and this time he crashed it past a helpless Sava.  Although Limerick continued to dominate there was no panic in the visitors who defended very well but were lacking cohesion up front.  Stephen O’ Flynn had a good effort on 33 minutes for Limerick and three minutes later he followed it up with an even better attempt with a spectacular overhead kick which Sava saved brilliantly. A rare raid by United saw Philly Hughes put Barry Clancy through but his attempt from 10 yards went wide.  Hughes then had two efforts one from play and a good attempt from a 30 yards free.  In the final minutes of the half United were at last getting forward and it bode well for the second half.  In that opening 45 minutes Monaghan were totally lacking their recent form and were probably showing Limerick too much respect.

Well whatever respect might have been displayed by United had been exorcised during the half time break and team talk because it was a different side that appeared on the resumption.  Indeed the half was only in its second minute when United after an excellent move the length of the pitch had the ball in the back of the net, alas it was ruled out for offside. Most of the good work for United came down the right wing and Cathal O’Connor in particular was causing a lot of problems for Limerick with his runs. United would have got back on terms in 61 minute were it not for a desperate clearance in front of the goal line by John Sullivan and then the keeper Dave Ryan made another good save from Alan Byrnes headed attempt.  It was now Monaghan who were dominating things and Limerick could thank Dave Rogers and Pat Purcell for some staunch defending. On 67 minutes Mick Cooke changed his attacking formation when he brought on Karl Bermingham for Sean Brennan. Limericks best opportunity of the half came in 72 minute when Timmy Kiely drove wide from 6 yards following a corner.  However United pressure was rewarded on 75 minutes. One of Cathal O’ Connor’s runs was brought to an end when Pat Purcell tripped him in the area the Limerick players disputed the decision, Philly Hughes stepped up to take the penalty, the keeper blatantly moved to his right before the kick was taken and not surprisingly got his hand to it and deflected it onto the crossbar, since the referee didn’t blow for the infringement by the keeper luckily the ball rebounded to Hughes as and when offered such a second opportunity Philly wasn’t going to miss.  For the remainder of! the game the referee had to endure a tough time from the crowd. Following this score we saw some of the best football of the game from both sides with entertaining end to end action.  In 82^nd minute Sava made another excellent save from Shane Tracy.  In the final quarter Limerick got about five soft looking frees in front of the United area and with the exception of the last with which Tracy skimmed the end of the crossbar they were totally wasted by being struck against the ‘wall’

In the closing minutes United were denied a penalty, if the Limerick players and supporters disputed the spot kick that was given against them earlier there was no disputing the fact that on this occasion that there was a clear trip from behind on Dom Tierney, the referee must be the only person in the ground who didn’t see the foul, probably the hectoring from the crowd had the desired effect on the official.

In the end a draw was a fair result, both sides had their chances to close out the game during their respected periods of dominance and seeing that Limerick were the first to be in the ascendancy the spoils could have been theirs.

Again this was an excellent performance from United particularly in the second half.  When Limerick were in the ascendancy United defended with composure, they probably showed Limerick too much respect.  It took some equally good defending from Limerick to deny United the three points.  Having come through some tough matches recently United are showing that it is not by chance that they are promotion contenders.

Next up is Mervue United at Gortakeegan on Friday night.

Limerick FC: D.Ryan, S.Kelly, P.Purcell, D.Rogers, M.Deady, T.Kiely, D.O'Leary, J.Sullivan (T.Lyons 72), D.Kavanagh (S.Clarke 87), S.Tracy, S.O'Flynn (J.Tierney 65).
Subs not Used: J.McGuinness, DCahill.
Booked: S.Kelly.

Monaghan United: G Sava, A Collins, S Grimes, A Byrne, C McMahon, D Tierney, C O'Connor, S McCrossan, S Brennan (K Bermingham 67), P Hughes, B Clancy.
Subs not Used: J Clarke, D Hannaphy, A Costigan, S McKevitt.
Booked: A Byrne, D Tierney.

Referee: Graham Kelly

Supporters Bus for Derry game

Any supporters wishing to travel on the bus for  Derry City v Monaghan must have deposit of €10 paid by this Friday.

Payment can be made to either Mickey Gallagher (Flemings) 0863774435 or Gerry Campbell (Clubhouse) 0872467180.