U-19 Airtricity League Southern Division
Mervue United 2-2 Athlone Town FC

The club's U-19's played out a very entertaining 2-2 draw with Athlone Town under lights on Wednesday evening at Fahy's Field.

In what was an even enough opening half the visitors came close to opening the scoring just past the half hour mark when midfielder Cathal Callinan saw his header strike the post with home keeper Eoin Curry beaten.

Athlone did open the scoring three minutes before the break as once again a ball into the box from a corner was not dealt with by the home defence and right back Ciaran O'Reilly was allowed head home unmarked for 1-0.

The home side were almost level on the stroke of half time as they broke quickly and Peter Walsh did brilliantly to get away from the Athlone defence as he saw his shot beat Colm Murray but rebound back off the butt of the post before being cleared by Sean French.

That was a sign of what was to come from Mervue after the break as they struck twice in a seven minute spell just after the interval to put themselves in front. 

Top scorer Yousef Madhy registered his eleventh goal of the season when he latched onto a through ball from Aidan Coyle to beat Murray from just inside the box on 48 minutes to level matters at 1-1.

The hosts were in front seven minutes later following an excellent passing move down the left wing as Aidan Coyle scored his second goal in four days with a low finish into the corner past Murray from just outside the box.

Athlone piled on the pressure after that as the home side set back too deep and Mervue had goalkeeper Eoin Curry to thank for keeping them in front as he pulled off three excellent saves in a ten minute spell to deny the visitors.

But that pressure told in the end as Athlone sub Jack Quinn finished from close range following another corner which the home side once again failed to cleared on 69 minutes 

Both sides had great chances to take all three points late on as Madhy had the ball in the Athlone net in the final minute only for an offside flag to rule it out, while the visitors created a couple of good chances but failed to extend Curry as both teams had to settle for a point a piece. 

Brian Laffey’s side play their third game in six days when they make the trip to Wicklow on Saturday afternoon as they face Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds with a 2 pm kick-off.

Mervue Utd: Eoin Curry; Maurice Nugent (Gary Bailey 40 inj), Aaron Moran, Chris Carroll, Ben Adeyemo, Paul Healy (Oscar Nowak 55); Darren Murray, Aidan Coyle (Eoghan Kelly 85), Moise Assogba; Peter Walsh (Dara Mulgannon 65), Yousef Mahdy. Subs not Used; Ryan Forde, Tony McHugh, Peter Healy (GK)

Athlone Town: Colm Murray; Ciaran O'Reilly (Ryan Gaffey 57), Shane Kelly (Jack Quinn), Sean French, Scott Osborne; Shane O'Keefe, Ian Fletcher, Cathal Callinan, Mark Geoghan; Aaron O'Neill (Ben Bahaghan 75), Aidy Byrne. Subs not Used: Chris Reid, Cian Hayden, Aaron Dillon.

Referee: Marc Lynch