Enniskillen Rangers 3 St. Mary's 0

Holders Enniskillen Rangers sealed their passage into the Round Three of the fonaCAB Junior Cup with a 3-0 victory over Glengormley side St. Mary’s at a wet Ball Range on Saturday.

The ‘Gers, who are unbeaten in three years in the competition, got off to the perfect start to the game when Willie Burleigh headed them into an early lead and they went on to put the game out of the visitors reach in the second half as Jason Keenan bagged a brace.

And Rangers manager Michael Kerr was delighted to see his side put their name in the hat for the next round as they look to make it three Junior Cup titles in a row.

“The main thing from our point of view was to win the game and get through to the next round which we did and now all we are hoping for is another home draw. It has been five or six weeks since we have had a competitive game so in that regards I was delighted with the performance from the boys.

“I told the lads that they would be tricky opponents and they did have a good 15 minute spell in the first half although they never tested Jerome and other than that I felt we were the better side,” said Kerr.

And Kerr was full of praise for the attitude of his players given they have had no games in recent weeks.

“The last few weeks have been really frustrating with no games but I have to give great credit to the boys. They have continued to show the right attitude at training even though they knew there would be no games for a few weeks,” he added.

It was also another clean-sheet for the Ball Range based side and that is something that Kerr states that they have spoken about this year.

“Keeping clean-sheets is something that we have targeted this year because if we can do that I always think that we will score,” said the ‘Gers boss.

Rangers could not have asked for a better start to the game as they took the lead in the opening minutes with captain Burleigh steering a header home.

However, St. Mary’s did enjoy a good spell after this and Martin Murphy did well on the right hand side before producing a good cross that forced Richard Johnston to turn the ball behind.

And from the subsequent corner Murphy picked out Conor Magee but his well struck shot fizzed past the post.

Other than this though the visitors, while neat and tidy in possession, posed little threat to the Rangers goal and as the half progressed Rangers started to reassert themselves on the tie.

Burleigh fired just wide from a long range effort before Jason Keena then blocked down an attempted clearance from St. Mary’s goalkeeper Michael McCluskey who was relieved to see roll out of harms way and the away side cleared the danger.

Christopher Currie then glided past three tackles but shot beyond the post while Paddy Beresford hit the woodwork as Rangers pressed for a second.

There was little in the way of clear-cut chances in the opening period of the second half although Murphy did blast over at the back post for St. Mary’s after he was picked out by Chris Hughes.

However, with 73 minutes on the clock Rangers swooped for their second of the game.

Ciaran Smith’s quick free was fed into the increasingly influential Currie on the edge of the box and he flicked it into the path of Keenan who took a touch with his right to create space before drilling a superb early shot past McCluskey to make it 2-0.

Currie continued to torture the St. Mary’s rearguard and again skipped around a number of challenges before teeing up Burleigh but his effort was off target.

With 81 minutes on the clock though Rangers did put the tie to bed as striker Keenan grabbed his second of the game with another crisp finish.

A good low ball across the box from the left by Ciaran Brough found the inrushing Keenan and he steered the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs to leave it 3-0 at the finish.

It is back to league action for Rangers this week when they travel to the Bawnacre to take on an Irvinestown Wanderers side who will be full of confidence after hitting eight in the Junior Cup last week.

“The next round of the cup is not for another four or five weeks so all our focus now will be on the league for now,” added Kerr.