FAI Junior Cup Round 2   (Report Courtesy of the Junior Soccer Portal http://thejuniorsoccerportal.info/mervue-in-fai-junior-cup-seventh-heaven/ )

Mervue United A 7-1 Moyne Villa 

Mervue United march on in the FAI Junior Cup after dismantling visiting Moyne Villa in this Galway second round tie on Saturday afternoon at Fahy's Field. Attacking right from the off Mervue looked to gain an advantage early on and they were gifted it on 6 minutes when a shove in the back from Moyne’s centre half sent Mervue’s Enda Curran to the turf leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot. 

Easily dispatched by the former League Of Ireland striker it was followed a couple of minutes later when the Villa keeper was left facing two attackers and a simple pass from Barry Moran left Curran with a tap in to make it 2-0 after 10 minutes.

Moyne Villa came back into the game momentarily and started to make better use of the ball as they were able to work their way into positions in the opposition half. Their sole effort in the first half was a powerful shot from the edge of the box which was bravely defended by Mervue centre half Paul Healy with a last ditch tackle at point blank range.

On 37 minutes Mervue stretched their lead as another attack down the left hand side, where Moyne Villa were having a miserable time of it, led to a clearance dropping to Mervue’s Stephen Larkin. He quickly laid it off to the edge of the box and Ciaran Foley struck a cracking effort into the corner leaving the Moyne Villa keeper with no chance.

After the restart it was Moyne Villa who came out the stronger side flashing a long range effort just wide of the upright almost immediately. The potential comeback was short-lived however as the home side responded with an attack of their own resulting in a corner from the right hand side. The delivery was only cleared as far as Jason Molloy and his powerful downward volley came through too many players in the box leaving the Villa keeper unsighted and helpless as it bounced into the bottom left hand corner.

Five minutes later and it was five for the home side as another attack down the left led to a cross being pumped into the box. At the bye line the ball dropped to Stephen Larkin and he unselfishly picked out the onrushing Mark Griffen who fired it into the top corner.

There was one silver lining on an otherwise very cloudy day for the visitors and that was the absolute peach of a free kick scored by their number 10, Mark Gibbons. A former Mervue player he stepped up from over 30 yards and absolutely smashed it into the net off the inside of the post leaving the keeper with no chance whatsoever.

Mervue got two more late on with a badly scuffed goal kick dropping to them just inside the Moyne Villa half and the through ball being dispatched by Enda Curran for his hat trick and then right at the death Jason Molloy picked up the ball on the edge of the box, shaped to shoot with his right before cutting inside onto his left and flashing a finish past the keeper and into the top right hand corner.

Mervue Utd: Colm Power, Aaron Finnerty (Chris Carroll), Keith McHugh, Paul Healy (Eric Browne), Gary Bailey; Jason Molloy, Ciaran Foley, Mark Griffin, Stephen Larkin (Lee Keogh); Enda Curran and Barry Moran (Adam Healy).

Referee: Brian Lynch