Irvinestown 2-13 Belcoo 0-10 Irvinestown St. Molaise moved into a mid-table position in Division One as second half goals from James Duffy and Stephen Sheridan helped them to a 2-13 to 0-10 win over bottom of the table Belcoo on Sunday.

This game was right in the balance with 20 minutes to go with the sides locked together at 0-09 apiece but Irvinestown rattled off the next 2-04 to move ten points clear as they eased to the victory.

For Belcoo, the wait for a first win of the campaign goes on with Peter Clarke’s side having drawn three of their eight games to date with a meeting against Ederney to come this weekend.

It was Belcoo who opened the scoring through corner forward Aaron Dolan but it was point for point in those early stages as the sides shared the first six points.

Paul McGrath and Mattie McAloon tagged on points for the O’Rahillys while Kevin McDonnell, Stephen Sheridan and Dwayne Carleton registered the Irvinestown points during this spell.

However, Belcoo got on top over the next ten minutes as they managed to forge open a three point advantage to move into a 0-07 to 0-04 lead.

Dolan and Johnny Feeley landed points for the away side and although Duffy pulled a point back for Irvinestown, further scores from Feeley and Dolan once more pushed Belcoo clear.

Irvinestown though responded well in the period before half time and they landed the final four points of the half to go in with a one point lead at the interval.

The impressive McDonnell and Gary Maguire knocked over points from play before Maguire converted a free to level up proceedings at 0-07 apiece.

And Sheridan then banged over the last point of the half to put the home outfit into a slender one point lead at the break, 0-08 to 0-07.

Belcoo landed the first point of the second half with Feeley again on target before McDonnell and Dolan swapped points to leave it 0-09 each.

At this stage a tight finish was expected to the encounter but this was not to materialise as Irvinestown took control while Belcoo failed to register another score until the final moments.

Maguire edged the St. Molaise back in front before James Duffy swooped for his side’s first goal of the game seconds later to put them into a four point lead.

And from this Irvinestown began to pull away as Maguire, Caolan Ward and Liam Murphy added on points before Sheridan put the game to bed with a second Irvinestown goal.

Sheridan started the move in his own defence and having carried the ball forward he then exchanged passes before going through one on one with Belcoo goalkeeper Gary Doherty and he made no mistake in slotting to the net.

Belcoo substitute Michael McGourty added a point for his side late on but this was only a consolation effort for the away side following a disappointing second half display from their perspective.

Irvinestown’s recent form will have pleased manager Shane Goan and he will be hoping that they can continue to climb the table this week when they host a Teemore side who are level at the bottom with Belcoo.