SD GALWAY 2 MERVUE UNITED 2

By JASON BYRNE

SD GALWAY and Mervue United shared the spoils in the first Galway derby of the season at the newly named Eamon Deacy Park in Galway last night, in honour the of the late and former Aston Villa, Galway United and Irish international.

It was the hosts who hit the front after just 12 minutes when Enda Curran latched onto a long ball from Brian Geraghty and netted against his old club, just after Pat Hoban had headed against the bar for Johnny Glynn's side.

SD Galway lost Paddy Quinlan after just 26 minutes after he failed to recover from a stiff tackle from Alex Lee, and his replacement Eric Browne became the fourth former Mervue United player to face his old club in an SD Galway kit with Mike Tierney, Michael Harty, and Curran already on the field.

After Curran squandered a few chances to double their lead, Mervue drew level on the stroke of half time when Barry McEntee's long ball was cleared as far as Gary Kelly - who let fly from 30 yards giving Ronan Burke no chance.

This changed the entire complexion of the game after the restart and a rejuvenated Mervue turned the game on its head just after the hour mark when Alan Murphy's corner was headed in by skipper Damien O'Rourke.

To SD Galway's credit they battled hard to find a leveller, with Brian Gaffney's effort going inches over and a header from Geraghty was cleared off the line by Kenny Farrell. But their chances of finding one appeared to suffer a blow when the troublesome Curran had to be withdrawn with an injury.

However, it was his replacement young Jason Lyons who became the hero when Conlon worked well to find Bradshaw who squared to Lyons and he slotted home to equalise.

The game fizzled out with both teams pushing hard to level it, with O'Rourke making some key interceptions for Mervue at the back and Geraghty doing likewise for SD Galway.

SD GALWAY: R Burke 6; M Harty 7, B Geraghty 7, P Quinlan 6 (E Browne 26 mins 6), T Bradshaw 7; R Conlon 7, E Greaney 7, L McConnell 6, B Gaffney 6; M Tierney 6 (Eduardo 87 mins), E Curran 8 (J Lyons 70 mins 6).

MERVUE UNITED: B O'Donoghue 7; B McEntee 7, D O'Rourke 7, M Ludden 7, K Farrell 7; A Lee 7, G Kelly 7, J Molloy 6 (E Nkololo 81 mins 5); A Murphy 8 (P Keegan 86 mins), P Hoban 6.

REFEREE: Ray Matthews (Westmeath).

ATTENDANCE: 447