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Rovers edge through with late Monahan strike
FOOTBALL: Impartial Reporter Mulhern Cup - Lisnaskea Rovers 2; Sperrin Athletic 1 - Lisnaskea Rovers edged their way into the quarter finals of the Impartial Reporter sponsored Mulhern Cup with a scrappy win over Sperrin Athletic at the Fermanagh venue on Saturday.

The game was spoiled by the strong wind which didn’t allow for good football and the game which had very little excitement was won with a goal four minutes from time.

    The opening half saw Rovers play with the wind at their backs but despite having a lot of the ball in the final third they failed to create any clear cut chances with Darren Graham having his shot blocked before putting the rebound over the crossbar.

    Rovers did take the lead on 38 minutes when a Kevin Swift corner at the near post was headed home by Graham for 1-0. Sperrin responded well and they levelled when Pete Neill won the ball on the left, cut inside Ossie Maguire and placed his shot past Shane Wilson into the net for 1-1 at the interval.

    Lisnaskea were clearly not firing on all cyndiners with Sperrin having the most of the play in the early stages of the second half without troubling keeper Wilson. The visitors best chance came when a poor clearance from Wilson fell to Willie Lowe who fired his shot over the bar when he should have found the target.

    Rovers worked their way back into the game with Kevin Curran having a shot from 16 yards hitting the post before going wide and then an Andy Coulter cross from the left was headed over the bar by Paddy Maguire.

    George Elliott introduced Glen Monahan with 15 minutes to play and it proved a match winning move when with 86 minutes played Tommy Armitage did well on the right, crossing for Monahan, who had made a diagonal run across the penalty area, to score with a diving header at the near post for 2-1.

    Sperrin pushed forward looking for an equaliser and on the break Curran had a shot blocked thereafter, putting the rebound over the crossbar. Tommy Armitage had another chance but he also failed to find the target but to be honest if Lisnaskea had scored another goal it would have been a tad flattering as they just about done enough to win this game. Sperrin, however, played well and will feel unlucky to lose a goal late in the game.