In October last year FAI chief executive officer John Delaney stated the association's intention of fielding one team from Galway in the League of Ireland and meetings continue to take place about making this a reality for the 2014 season.
The revelations regarding the possibility of a sponsorship deal being brokered with the Comer brothers brought plenty of local speculation, but uncertainty still surrounds the direction this proposed new Galway club will take. Representatives of Salthill Devon, Mervue United, Galway United Supporters Trust, and the Galway FA all attended a meeting last week with FAI officials.
It is believed the FAI were not happy that their lengthy talks with the Comer brothers were brought into the public domain.
Speaking in October, Delaney was adamant that a vibrant Galwegian side operating out of Eamonn Deacy Park would be of “national interest”. Since then all the stakeholders have followed the proposal of presenting two individuals for several meetings as the FAI wanted to get a strategy in place to implement the findings of the Ned O'Connor report.
Former South Tipperary county manager O'Connor made a recommendation that Galway should only have one Airtricity League of Ireland club and the FAI were eager to ensure that this happened. The upcoming weeks, though, will be revealing as the discussions are now entering a critical phase.
On the pitch Mervue maintained their fine start to the current campaign preserving their unbeaten record following Saturday's draw with Longford Town at Flancare Park.
Jason Molloy's second-half leveller rescued a point for Johnny Glynn's improving outfit, who are on the road again this Saturday.
Mervue make the trip to St Colman's Park for a clash with a Cobh Ramblers side that will need to be monitored. Glynn has continued to introduce youngsters into the senior game with talented teenager Ryan Manning providing glimpses of his considerable potential. Conor Gleeson, Martin Conneely, Stephen Walsh, and Noel Varley are other developing footballers in the Mervue squad, who will be keen to test themselves against Cobh, who have always traditionally been tough opponents on home turf.
Five points from five games is what Cobh have pocketed since returning to the first division and they will be quietly confident of registering a result, but Mervue have shown admirable pluck so far. With two wins and three draws Mervue will want to stitch a sixth game to their unbeaten run.
At Drom tomorrow evening, bottom-of-the-table Salthill Devon entertain Waterford United, who have surprisingly only gleaned four points to date.
Devon will take a drop of encouragement from two successive draws against Athlone Town and Cobh which terminated a losing streak. Jean Biansumba grabbed a splendid 64th-minute goal to restore parity at Drom and that is the way it stayed despite opportunities being crafted at either end.
Now Salthill will be intent on exploiting Waterford's dwindling confidence levels with Nicky Curran, Cian Fadden, Mixie Harty, Derek O'Brien, Enda Curran, and Biansumba key contributors during the past fortnight.
