Salthill came into this re-arranged league fixture due to Barna's GAA heroics at the weekend but did so without 1st team regulars, Eoghan Stenson who was recently rewarded for his performances last season with a call up to the International U15 Assessment Selection and Sean Lally who was described by many varied commentators as Salthill Devon's strongest performer in the National final last season.

This paved the way for other squad members to stake a starting berth in the team. Salthill Devon started off with a high tempo and Alex Byrne and Conor Shaughnessy stated thier intentions early on by winning the 50/50 battles in midfield and playing the simple pass to their wide men to try and penetrate the Barna full backs. Both Ben Murphy on the left and Joe Gaughan down the right were causing serious danger to the Barna rearguard and both players created decent half chances early on for their front men.

The pressure was beginning to tell and the opening goal came form a move that ebbed and flowed from the right hand side of the pitch into Conor Shaughnessy who in turn spotted the gap for Ben Murphy to come onto the ball and with a sweet left footed strike that finished in the top right corner of the net leaving the Barna keeper with no chance whatsoever.

1-0 to Salthill. It was evident from watching the Salthill management that they spotted the openings in the Barna defence and they encouraged more passing and moving from their players. Alex Byrne was getting the better of his district league team mate Jason Lyons and kept the ball moving and indeed a crafty piece of play down the right flank allowed Joe Gaughan to outpace the full back and he was clearly upended in the box as the collsion made noise enough for a deaf man to know there was a connection, however, in these Eduardo times, the ref waved it away and the chance was gone.

Garbhann Malone and Shane Garvey marshalled the centre of defence admirably and they were ably assisted in the full back positions by Aaron Kane and Diarmuid Fadden respectively. Young Posher Fadden went on a mazy dribble down the left flank in Ashley Cole esque fashion but when the time came to play the killer pass to his wide man, his touch let him down, his performances have been improving since match day one and he does have the dynamite in his left boot to cause damage to the opposition. A sucession of corners for Salthill were the catalyst for the next goal and good movement inside the box and an equally good delivery from Joe Gaughan saw the ball drop to Alex Byrne and with a left footed strike into the top of the net he made it 2-0.

Always good to see a young player not afraid to try and improve his weaker foot and it was evident that this player has been working on this aspect of his game over the pre season period. It was 2-0 at the interval. Joe Gaughan picked up a nasty knock just on half time but he was heavily involved in the game in the first period and the front men, Eamonn Brannigan came very close with a sweet strike from just outside the box and Dillon Murphy with a deft first touch created space but struck the ball too well and it ended up over the bar.

Devon made it 3-0 just after half time again from a corner kick and the ball found itself to Alex Byrne and the midfielder who was producing his best performance for the Seagulls to date notched his brace to make it 3-0 and again with the left foot. Eric Ohlstrom who has been knocking at the door for a starting position came in to replace Joe Gaughan on the right of midfield. He was involved immediately and his pace gave an extra dimension to the team as the opposition began to falter. The competitive nature of the contest began to sway and Salthill introdcued Shane Connaughton, Niall Murray and Colin Hanbury for the remaining 20 minutes of the contest and Niall Murray was very unlucky not to score when he attempted a dink over the keeper who read his intentions. Chris Healy in goals did not have much to do throughout but made a great stop five minutes from time. However, the Devon rearguard tuned out in the dying minutes and allowed the barna striker to finish cooly to complete the 3-1 scoreline.

Salthill Devon had been drawn at home to Cregmore/Claregalway in the 1st round of the Connacht Cup on the weekend of the 3rd/4th October.