Strathroy Harps 0 Tummery Athletic 3

Tummery Athletic maintained their title defence with two late goals sealing victory over Strathroy Harps.

A first-half strike from Paul McHugh gave the reigning champions a first-half advantage, with two goals in the last eight minutes from Marty Hughes and Blain Campbell along with their first clean sheet for nine games confirming their victory.

Tummery hit seven past Strathroy in their previous league meeting this season, and although they never threatened to repeat that scoreline in the away fixture, manager Ryan Hanna was delighted with his side’s performance.

“Given the conditions and the pitch, I was really pleased with the result, and it was a decent performance as well given the circumstances,” he said.

“In the first-half we had two or three really good chances, but it has been the story of the last few weeks and months that we haven’t got as many goals as we would have liked.

"If we weren’t creating that would be a bigger issue, but once we got the first one it was fully deserved.”

“In the second half we had most of the possession, but Strathroy had the potential to be dangerous on the counter and they were dangerous from set pieces so we knew that was always a threat. If we had got the second earlier we might have been able to push on and the win might have been even more convincing, but it didn’t pan out that way and it took us until the 82nd minute to get the second.”

Tummery had the better of the first half, but they struggled to turn that superiority into goals until they finally found the net in the 37th minute when Aidy McCaffrey collected a short corner and whipped in a cross that Paul McHugh headed in from inside the six-yard box.

Tummery had further chances in the second half to add to their lead, but Strathroy were always in with a chance until the visitors finally netted a second with eight minutes remaining.

A deep free kick from Declan McNulty was directed back into the danger area by Ciaran Beacom and Marty Hughes tapped in from four yards. The win was completed when Harps only partially cleared a cross and Blain Campbell’s shot from the edge of the area squirmed past goalkeeper Stephen Sloan.

The victory leaves Tummery five points adrift of league leaders Enniskillen Rangers with three games in hand.