Erne Gaels 3-20 Irvinestown 1-13.

Erne Gaels picked up the Erne Cup 2 title with a comfortable win over Irvinestown at Brewster Park on Sunday.

The Belleek outfit did the damage in the middle period of the first half when they landed a flurry of successive points before Gareth Deery found the net and at the break they led 1-14 to 0-06.

Irvinestown battled hard throughout the game against a physically stronger Erne Gaels side but they were unable to close the gap and with Michael Heron and John Lunny tagging on goals the Belleek outfit ran out 3-20 to 1-13 winners.

It was Irvinestown who registered the opening point of the game when Shane Goan slotted over after a good move but Erne Gaels were soon into their stride and they hit points from Brian Mullin, Mark O’Shea, Mark Lyons and Deery to claim a 0-04 to 0-01 advantage.

Indeed, Mullin’s strong running proved problematic for Irvinestown with the centre half forward hitting four points from play in the first half.

Caolan Ward did notch a second Irvinestown point but Erne Gaels hit 1-10 over the next 15 minutes to take a grip on matters.

Mullin, O’Shea and Rory McGarrigle were all among the points for Erne Gaels while Deery twisted and turned before planting a shot low to the net to make it 1-12 to 0-03 by the 23rd minute.

Shane Goan had accounted for Irvinestown’s sole reply during this spell and although Cian McCaffrey, John McElhill and Michael Mahon fired over points, scores from Michael Heron and McGarrigle left Erne Gaels leading 1-14 to 0-06 at the interval.

Irvinestown continued to show plenty of battling qualities in the early stages of the second half as they knocked over four of the first six points as Ryan Keane, Danny Noble, Caolan Ward and a cracking effort from Francis Ward kept the scoreboard ticking over for them.

However, it was not to be the start of a big comeback as Erne Gaels quickly regained the initiative.

They had points from Mullin, McGarrigle and Oisin Kelm before half back Michael Heron raced through and drilled a shot to the net.

Irvinestown replied with a goal of their own as Ryan Keane crashed a shot to the net with seven minutes remaining to make it 2-17 to 1-10.

And the sides then went on to share the next six points as Deery, Mullin and O’Shea landed for Erne Gaels while Francis Ward (2) and John McElhill were on target for Irvinestown.

Erne Gaels though wrapped things up in injury time as substitute John Lunny ran through and found the net to leave it 3-20 to 1-13 at the finish.