Mervue dent Athlone's slim promotion hopes

Airtricity League 1st Division Mervue Utd 2 Athlone Town 0 Mervue United put a major dent in Athlone Town's promotion hopes when two late second half goals enabled the home side to claim full points at Fahy's Field on Friday night last. Athlone had been talking up their chances of making the play-off spots in recent weeks, but this latest setback against a side recording a first win in six games hardly gives supporters much hope of breaking into the top three. With ten games remaining and coupled with Waterford's win in Longford, time now looks to be against Athlone with a whopping eleven points the gap to be made up on third placed United between now and season's end. On a perfect evening for football, Athlone showed four changes to the side that had drawn with Finn Harps a week earlier. In the absence of suspended top scorer Noel McGee, Mike Kerley opted to start with new signing Mark McGoldrick up front and Mark Sherlock on the substitutes' bench. With the home side lacking in confidence following five straight defeats and Athlone's lack of punch in attack, it was no surprise that the opening half was poor fare for the small crowd. Tom King had an early chance for the home side but headed wide after a Jason Molloy cross from the left. In a poor opening period, there was precious little goalmouth action of note. Athlone's first corner came midway through the half and almost led to the first goal, with Brian McCarthy's header from Eric Molloy's delivery being cleared off the line by James Casserly. As the half progressed Niall Scullion had a further chance for the visitors, but his left-footed effort was saved by the keeper, after Brian Gill had set up his fellow midfielder. Town keeper Pat Jennings ensured the first half ended scoreless when he pulled off a marvellous save five minutes from the break as he pushed away a Molloy opportunistic strike from the left, with King then sending the loose ball across the goal and wide of the far post. A change for Athlone at half-time saw Sherlock replace Molloy and it gave the visiting attack a much needed boost that had been lacking in the opening half. Just after the hour mark, McGoldrick fired over and another substitute Mark Walsh was denied by the keeper, who was quickly out to intercept a through ball from Sherlock. A tactical move by Mervue had seen Stephen Walsh push forward from full-back to replace Pat Hoban up front and Walsh's finishing after 64 minutes reflected his defensive tendencies as he fired wide of an open goal. A quick clearance from the goalkeeper had freed Walsh but with the goal at his mercy somehow screwed his shot wide of the target. Midway through the half came another bad miss came at the other end when the home goal lived a charmed life as Athlone looked to break the deadlock with increased pressure. Barry O'Mahony delivered the cross from the right but Sherlock was out of luck when he was denied by the post while McGoldrick blasted the rebound over from close range to let the home side off the hook. It proved to be a costly miss as the home side hit the front after 72 minutes. King got past Kevin Williamson on the right and his cross saw Walsh get it right this time to finish to the net from close range. It was a shock lead and somewhat against the run of play, but Athlone quickly tried to get back on terms during the final quarter of an hour. Walsh headed a Williamson cross from the left over the bar, with a corner kick following soon afterwards to keep up the pressure on Mervue. Sherlock was also off target with a header while King fired over for the home side as full-time approached. From another corner kick Scullion headed over but, in stoppage time, Mervue sealed victory with a second score following a swift counter attack. At this late stage Athlone had gone on all out attack in an attempt to level matters and centre-half McCarthy had pushed forward to join the onslaught. The home side struck with deadly effect when a Town move broke down as they quickly counter attacked and, in a two-on-one situation, Walsh set up King, who had the relatively simple task of tapping the ball past an exposed Jennings from close range. Athlone might have grabbed a consolation score in the final minute of stoppage time but Walsh headed Williamson's corner over the bar. The contest ended soon afterwards as Mervue celebrated just their third victory of the campaign to finally get into double figures on the league table after 18 games. For Athlone, it's back to the drawing board and with Limerick and Waterford to come in the next three weeks, the recovery period from this setback is far from comfortable. Mervue United: Conor Gleeson, James Casserly (Michael McSweeney, 93 mins), Stephen Walsh, Martin Conneely, Mike Elwood, Gary Kelly, Tom King (Etanda Nkololo, 92), Noel Varley, Pat Hoban (Marc Ludden, 54), Alan Murphy, Jason Molloy. Athlone Town: Pat Jennings, Damien Rushe, Kevin Williamson, Stephen Last, Brian McCarthy, Val Feeney (Mark Walsh, 55 mins), Barry O'Mahony, Brian Gill (Jason Hughes 88), Niall Scullion, Mark McGoldrick, Eric Molloy (Mark Sherlock h/t). Referee: Keith Callanan (Cork).