Published: Wednesday, 26th May, 2010 5:00pm

Athlone fall to surprise defeat away

Mervue Utd 1 Athlone Town 0

ATHLONE Town's recent worrying slide down the First Division table continued at Terryland Park on Saturday, when Nicky Curran's 85th minute winner stretched their winless streak to five games.

Following a poor performance in the 2-2 draw against bottom-placed Salthill Devon the previous week, Athlone were looking to bounce back against second bottom Mervue.

But, in the sun-drenched Dyke Road venue, Brendan Place's side never really got going, and have now slipped to ninth (fourth from bottom), with 13 matches played.

With tired legs all around, the home side rallied for one final effort near the end, and hit the winner with five minutes remaining.

A booming long throw from Rory Gaffney was flicked on at the near post by Mike Tierney, and Curran poked home at full stretch to give Mervue the win.

In nigh-on perfect conditions, the home side were presented with the first opening three minutes into the encounter.

Some clever work from striker Evan Connolly down the left hand side left Mark Nolan in trouble, but when the big number nine picked out Kevin Crehan on the penalty spot, his header sailed over the crossbar of Chris Bennion's goal.

Mervue continued to show the bright early form, and a sweeping move featuring Gaffney, Tommy Walsh and Tierney, was snuffed out by a timely interception from Stephen Caffrey, playing at centre-back in Des Hope's continued absence through injury.

The Town started to grow into the match and carved their first opening after 11 minutes. Austin Skelly - fresh from his brace off the bench last week - sent Niall Scullion galloping clear down the right, but instead of trying to pick out a more central teammate, his ambitious effort cleared the fence and found the car park.

Tierney looked to have given the home side the lead 19 minutes in when he was first to Gaffney's near-post cross. The ball beat Bennion and was trickling towards goal, but somehow Nolan got back to hack it off the line, and Brian McCarthy completed the clean-up job by putting the ball out for a corner.

The boys' in maroon - themselves without several regular starters - continued to press for the opener, and it looked certain to arrive midway through the opening half when Mervue front man Gaffney let fly from almost 40 metres. It was a loose clearance from Nolan that fell to the lively front man, and after controlling the ball on his chest, he connected with the sweetest of left-foot shots that curled just past the angle of post and crossbar.

Despite all the Mervue pressure, Athlone continued to plug away, and probably should have opened the scoring after 26 minutes. Skelly was the creator once more, freeing Benson down the left, and Benson's inch-perfect cross picked out the run of Niall Scullion on the penalty spot, but the winger's header was disappointing, and sailed well wide of Padriag Lally's goal.

A scoreless first-half sent the side's in level at the break, but straight from kick-off Athlone were dealt a severe blow when young midfielder Benson was injured. A teak-tough tackle from Tierney sent the impressive playmaker crumpling to the floor, and despite receiving five minutes treatment on his ankle, he was unable to return to the action, and was replaced by Richie O'Hanlon.

Five minutes after the restart, a quickly worked corner from Mervue almost caught Town napping, as Gaffney's cross was almost turned home by Tierney and Connolly.

Mervue midfielder Tommy Walsh came desperately close to finding the net midway through the half when McCarthy was penalised for a foul on Gaffney at the edge of the box. Walsh stepped up, but his beautifully flighted free crashed off the post, then off Bennion, and somehow Connolly failed to make contact with the rebound.

After Curran pushed Mervue in front, Athlone predictably piled forward in search of a goal that might share the spoils, and the final five minutes were not short of chances to do so.

On 90 minutes, the home side's keeper came to collect a corner from substitute O'Hanlon, and misread the flight of the ball, but McCarthy's header missed its target.

And two minutes into injury time, Robbie Farrell should have claimed a point for the visitors, but the impressive Crehan cleared the striker's header from underneath the crossbar, after Lally had again failed to deal with the deep cross.

Brendan Place will be disappointed not to at least leave Terryland Park with a share of the spoils, but Mervue held on for a deserved win, which pushes them clear of rivals Salthill Devon at the foot of the table.

Mervue United: Padraig Lally; Nicky Curran, Martin Conneely, Eric Browne, Kenny Farrell; Kevin Crehan, Mike Tierney, Tommy Walsh, Alex Lee; Rory Gaffney, Evan Connolly. Subs: Collie Kelly for Lee (83 mins), Derek McWalter for Connolly (90).

Athlone Town: Chris Bennion; Mark Nolan, Shane O'Connell, Stephen Caffrey, Brian McCarthy, Stephen Relihan, Niall Scullion, Robbie Benson, Austin Skelly, Robbie Farrell, James Goggins. Subs: Richie O'Hanlon for Benson (52 mins), Gordon Watson for Goggins (63).

Referee: Brendan Kelly (Offaly).

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