Irvinestown and Teemore up as St. Molaise beat Gaels

Irvinestown St. Molaise 2-15

Irvinestown and Teemore will ply their trade in Division One next season after the St. Molaise cruised to victory over Enniskillen at Brewster Park on Sunday.

The Gaels needed to beat Irvinestown to stay in the promotion race but the defeat ended their hopes and in doing so sealed promotion for Irvinestown and Teemore.

Shane Goan's side took control of this game in the second quarter when they turned a three point deficit into a two point half time advantage.

And a James Duffy goal on the resumption put Irvinestown firmly in charge as they bossed things through to the finish.

It was the home side though who were the quicker to settle and they had the better of the opening exchanges.

Daniel Keenan opened the scoring for the Gaels with a point from play before Irvinestown levelled things though a converted Ronan Ormsby free.

However, Irvinestown were not to score for the next 15 minutes as the Gaels got on top.

Conor McAleer clipped over a free following a foul on Paddy Reihill while Reihill, who was impressive in the early stages, banged over a good effort from the right.

When Brian McAleer then rounded off a flowing move involving Ryan McCluskey, Reihill, Neil Love and Conor McAleer by firing over it moved Enniskillen into a deserved 0-04 to 0-01 lead as the half reached the midway stage.

That though was as good as it got for the Gaels as Irvinestown responded in the lead up to half time.

Gary Maguire lofted over a fine score from the left and Joey Millar quickly followed up with another point after Enniskillen had coughed up possession coming out of defence.

And when Ormsby banged over a free it saw the contest levelled at 0-04 apiece.

Indeed, Irvinestown continued to dominate as half time approached as they took the lead through a Maguire free before Ormsby registered the final score of the half, collecting the ball out in front and tapping over following a strong run by Kevin McDonnell to leave it 0-06 to 0-04 at half time in the away side's favour.

Irvinestown were to push on into a dominant possession in the opening four minutes of the second half as they hit a quickfire 1-02 to stretch their lead to seven points.

James Duffy, who alongside Ormsby in the full forward line posed numerous problems for the Gaels, clipped over from an acute angle before following up with the opening goal of the game. A long ball in was not dealt with by the Enniskillen defence and Ormsby found Duffy who blasted to the net from close range.

When Ormsby then tagged on a point from a free it made it 1-08 to 0-04.

At this stage the Gaels needed a response and it took a good save from TJ McMulkin in the Irvinestown goals to deny Ciaran Smith a goal, Smith's rising shot pushed over the bar by the Irvinestown custodian.

Duffy and Conor McAleer then traded points but it was Irvinestown who remained on top and they hit the next five points to put the game beyond Enniskillen.

Ronan Campbell, McDonnell (2), Ciaran McGoldrick and Ormsby all rattled over points to push Irvinestown into a 1-14 to 0-06 lead with ten minutes to go.

Conor McAleer knocked over a free for the Gaels but this was only a consolation score and Irvinestown finished the game strongly as Campbell got in to fire home their second goal while Ormsby rounded things off with a late point from a free to leave it 2-15 to 0-07 at the finish.