Mervue United A.F.C
There once was
a time when three football clubs from Galway represented the Tribe County in
the League of Ireland. It was a special era for the West coast, with so many
clubs to choose from as to who to support. Salthill Devon, Galway United and
Mervue United all had their own identity and history to their story. For this
piece, we will be telling the story of Mervue United, a club who had some
dominance in the amateur leagues in Connacht and Galway and because of this saw
that progress meant making the step up to League of Ireland football. That step
up didn’t last very long and is the reason why we are telling their story. Here
it is, the Mervue United story.
Founded in 1960
by a group of people from the McDonagh Avenue area of Mervue, Co. Galway. The
clubs colours were to be maroon and light blue, whilst they played at Fahys
Field. After setting under-age sides the club eventually moved into senior
football and by the 1970’s were playing in the Galway & District League. It
didn’t take long for the club to make an impression and they found themselves
in the top league in the area after only a couple of years. It was the start of
what some might say dominance in Galway soccer. In fact, the club were so
dominant in the 1980’s that even their reserve side got promoted to the Galway
& District League Premier Division, however the rules stated that one club
could not have two sides in the same league, so the first team remained the
only Mervue side in the top league.
Along their
journey, the club picked up numerous cups, including six Connacht Senior Cups
six Connacht Senior Challenge Cups, three Connacht Shields, 6 Connacht Junior
Cups and nine Michael Byrne Cups. (To date of time of writing 2024). Along with
their cup triumphs they have also won eleven Galway & District League
titles and eight Connacht Senior League titles.
Most of this
success would happen before the 2006, in which they alongside fellow Galway
club, Salthill Devon would become founding members of the newly formed A
Championship. The club finished 3rd in it’s first season, however,
seeing as they and Salthill were the only non-reserve sides in the league, it
was between the two clubs as to which one would be promoted. Salthill finished
rock bottom and so Mervue United gained the right to play in a
relegation/promotion play-off against the club that finished bottom of the
First Division. That was Kildare County. In the two-legged tie, the Galway side
came out on top winning 5-3 on aggregate and cemented their place in the 2009
First Division. Kildare County also got to play in the First Division that
following season, after Cobh Rambers failed to gain a licence to lay in the
National League.
In their first
season, the club finished 11th, second from bottom, just above
Kildare Count, who this time decided they would not contest a
relegation/promotion play-off and instead withdrew from the league and
dissolved completely. The 2010 season didn’t see much improvement, with the
club once again finishing second bottom, although they did finish ahead of
their Galway rivals, Salthill Devon.
The 2011 season
did see a huge improvement on the field and Mervue started to be competitive at
this level for the first time. They finished 7th ahead of the likes
of Finn Harps, Athlone Town, Wexford Youths and Salthill Devon. But the 2012
First Division was to see a huge transformation, with only eight clubs
competing in the league that season. Mervue finished 7th out of the
eight once again only finishing higher than local rivals Salthill Devon (Who
were now known as SD Galway).
It was the 2013
season and their final one in the First Division that, ironically, turned out
to be the clubs best with their highest ever finish. Mervue finished 3rd
that season, which saw them qualify for the first phase of the
promotion/relegation play-offs. They would play Longford Town, who had only
finished a point above the Galway side. Mervue won the first leg, 1-0 at home,
thanks to a Jason Molloy goal in the 18th minute. The second leg was
a more open affair, with Longford winning the game in the first 90 minutes,
2-1, sending it too extra time. The drama didn’t stop there as Longford thought
they had clinched it when David O’ Sullivan scored in the 102nd
minute. They almost saw it through until the 122 nd minute of extra time when
Mervue equalised through Paul Sinnott. It meant the tie was going to settled by
penalties. (A side note Ireland International, Ryan Manning was sent off for
Mervue in the 80th of the game).
The lottery of
the penalty shoot-out began, with Mervue missing their first spot-kick.In fact,
they missed their second and third, whilst Longford scored all three of theirs,
meaning they went through to the next phase, eventually beating Bray Wanderers
and securing promotion to the Premier League.
It was so close
for Mervue, and few could have seen what was coming next. A plan made by the
FAI meant that Galway, as a county, would only allowed to have one football
club represent it at League of Ireland level as theiy felt there was not enough
resources to have three. And so, Salthill and Mervue agreed to withdraw from
the League of Ireland and let Galway United be the sole representative in the
League for Galway. Mervue were given seats on the board at Galway as
compensation and it was agreed that all three clubs would work together to develop
young players from each club to then go and play at League of Ireland level for
Galway United.
Mervue United
are still playing their football in the senior leagues and as pointed out have
produced Ireland internationals, most recently, Ryan Manning and Aaron
Connolly. They are still one of the most successful junior sides in Galway and
indeed Connacht and so we probably wont see them play in the League of Ireland
again, well, not in the near future. Who knows?