Mervue Utd’s Junior A team travel to the Sligo Showgrounds this Sunday afternoon to face Sligo Super League side, Carbury FC as they contest this season’s Connacht Junior Cup final, with kick-off at 3 pm. Gareth Gorman and Noel McDonnell’s side will be hoping to capture a seventh provincial title for the club in what will be Mervue’s ninth appearance in the final. Mervue’s last win in the competition was in 2015 when they defeated Premier Division rivals, Athenry, in that all Galway decider in Eamonn Deacy Park three years ago.
They have had a tough route to this year’s final having drawn Premier Division title rivals Athenry in their opening game which required an extra time winner from Simon Walsh after Eoin Concannon had given them a first half lead in round two. A rather comfortable third round 5-1 win over Roscommon side, Ballymoe FC, was followed by another three tough cup games. Mayo side, Straide/Foxford Utd, were eventually seen off 4-2 in the fourth round before a very hard earned 2-1 away win over Boyle Celtic was secured courtesy of a late Stephen Larkin goal in the quarter final. Two first half goals from Eoin Concannon and captain Aaron Finnerty set them up for a 2-1 semi-final win over Athlone side, St Peters, at Leacarrow last month.
They will face a Carbury FC side who have just captured the Sligo Super League title yet again this season, having won seventeen of their eighteen league games, they drew the other game to remain undefeated this season. They have already defeated two Galway sides, Corrib Rangers (4-0) and Renmore (4-2) and then went on to defeat a well fancied Castlebar Celtic side 2-0 in Celtic Park in their semi-final last month. Their striking duo of Gareth Kelly and Ibrahim Savage have scored 41 goals between in the Sligo Super League so Mervue will be well aware of their attacking threat, while midfielder Barry O’Mahony is a player who is well known at Fahy’s Field having played a season in the Airtricity First Division with the club back in 2013. Carbury continued their unbeaten run by completing a league and cup double last weekend with a 3-1 local cup final win over Strand Celtic.
Mervue have warmed up for their provincial final appearance with two impressive Premier Division wins over the past week as they defeated West Utd 4-0 at Fahy’s Field and Maree/Oranmore 5-1 in Oranmore last Sunday morning to close the gap to three points, with a game in hand, on league leaders Athenry. Mervue have been boosted ahead of the final by the return from injury of strikers Barry Moran and Enda Curran and winger Jason Molloy for those two games but do have an injury doubt over experienced centre half, Keith McHugh, who suffered a knee injury in the West Utd game. Despite having to travel to Sligo for the decider, Gareth Gorman and Noel McDonnell’s side will be hoping to return home with the provincial title to Fahy’s Field with a squad that certainly has plenty of League of Ireland and big game experience with Tommy Walsh (already two time winner in 2005 and 2015), Eric Browne, Peter Walsh, Simon Walsh, Enda Curran and Barry Moran within the squad.
Mervue Utd Path to the Connacht Junior Cup Final
Rd 1 – Premier Divisions teams received bye into Round 2
Rd 2 – 03.01.2018 Mervue Astro - Mervue Utd 2-1 Athenry AET (Scorers - Eoin Concannon, Simon Walsh)
Rd 3 – 19.01.2018 Mervue Astro - Mervue Utd 5-1 Ballymoe FC (Scorers - Enda Curran 2, Barry Moran 2, Stephen Larkin)
Rd 4 – 11.02.18 Fahy’s Field – Mervue Utd 4-2 Straide/Foxford Utd (Scorers - Enda Curran 2, Emmet Shaw, Robert Spelman)
Rd 5 (Quarter Final) – 18.03.18 Boyle – Boyle Celtic 1-2 Mervue Utd (Scorers - Barry Moran, Stephen Larkin)
Rd 6 (Semi-Final) 15.04.18 Leacarrow - St Peters 1-2 Mervue Utd (Scorers - Eoin Concannon and Aaron Finnerty)
6 TIME WINNERS – Connacht Junior Cup
1989/90 Mervue Utd 5-1 Barcastle (Scorers - Donnie Farragher 4 and Gary O’Connor)
1990/91 Mervue Utd 2-1 College Corinthians (Scorers - John Carr and Mike Cooke)
1997/98 Mervue Utd 2-1 Crescent Utd (Scorers - Ger Abberton and David Honan)
2001/02 Castlebar Celtic 0-1 Mervue Utd (Scorer - Henry Loughnane)
2004/05 Glenview Stars 1-4 Mervue Utd (Scorers - Simon Murray 2, Sean Murphy and Seamie Crowe)
2014/15 Mervue Utd 2-1 Athenry (Scorers - Robert Connolly and Stephen Larkin)
