Lisbellaw 2-11 Erne Gaels 1-06

A dominant first half from Lisbellaw saw them secure the Fermanagh Junior Hurling Championship title with a 2-11 to 1-06 victory over a battling Erne Gaels at Brewster Park on Saturday evening.

The St. Patrick’s side settled the quicker of the sides and a Dwayne McPhilips goal helped them into a 1-06 to 0-01 lead by the water break in the first half.

And they continued to build on that over the remainder of the half to go in at the interval with a 2-09 to 0-02 advantage, Ciaran McTeague registering their second goal.

In fairness to Erne Gaels though, they dug in during the second half and went on to outscore Lisbellaw 1-04 to 0-02 in the second half, with substitute Gerard McCarthy bagging their goal.

However, they never really looked like troubling Lisbellaw who had done the hard work in the first half as they saw out the contest to deservedly claim the title.

Lisbellaw Manager Nigel Moore felt that the start his side made was key in their victory.

“We got off to a fantastic start to the game – we couldn’t have asked for any better than that, and then the goals came at good times for us and they more or less finished it off for us.

“We had played Erne Gaels a few weeks before and we only really pulled away in the final quarter, so the start we made in the final was very important.

“We knew they wouldn’t lie down, and they rallied in the second half, but we had built up a good lead,” said Moore, who was delighted for his players.

“It’s brilliant for them and it’s brilliant to have the likes of this championship now going in Fermanagh,” he added.

It was all Lisbellaw in the early stages of the contest as they made their mark on the final right from the outset.

Surging runs

Centre half forward Eoin McCabe and wing back Michael Flanagan were both prominent, with Flanagan’s surging runs at pace from deep causing all sorts of problems for Erne Gaels, especially in the first half.

It was McCabe who opened the scoring with a point from the right-hand side and he followed this up with an excellent score to make it 0-02 to 0-00.

The next spell belonged to Flanagan as he rifled over the next three points, two of which came after strong runs, one of which saw his effort fly over the bar to make it 0-05 to 0-00.

Erne Gaels were struggling to make an impact at this stage, and with ten minutes on the clock, Lisbellaw struck for their first goal of the contest as McPhilips tucked to the net after a scramble around the Belleek side’s goal.

Erne Gaels did open their account soon after as Gareth Deery fired over a good point, but play was quickly back down the other end and Erne Gaels goalkeeper Fintan Hughes saved well from McCabe, although a terrific Eoin Cleary point left eight between the sides at the end of the first quarter, 1-06 to 0-01.

Lisbellaw continued to add on scores on the resumption as McTeague pointed after yet another superb burst forward by Flanagan before Cleary drilled over a long range free.

Increased

The gap was increased further in the 25th minute as McTeague got on the end of a long ball to finish to the net to make it 2-08 to 0-01.

The sides then traded points before the end of the half, with Ultan O’Reilly rattling over for Erne Gaels, while McCabe finished the half as he had started with another point from play to leave it 2-09 to 0-02 at the break.

Erne Gaels made a couple of changes at the break and it was one of those, Gerard McCarthy, who made a positive impact as he rifled over the first point of the second half before then notching a goal from close range to make it 2-09 to 1-03.

McCabe landed his fourth point of the evening in response for Lisbellaw, but the Belleek side continued to battle and Ben McCann and Barry McCann both tagged on points while midfielder Oran Johnston had an effort come back off the crossbar.

Dwayne McPhilips landed Lisbellaw’s final point before Erne Gaels full back Thomas Burns stepped forward to round off the scoring, but this was just a consolation score as Lisbelaw ran out eight point victors.