Lisnaskea Rovers 6 Maguiresbridge 4

Lisnaskea Rovers scored four second half goals without reply to take the honours in a high scoring local derby.

Maguiresbridge looked to be on course for victory after netting four in the opening half, but Rovers, helped by a Seamie Quigley hat-trick, hit back to take all three points and give themselves a chance of escaping the drop.

Lisnaskea coach Rhys McQuigg felt his side were deserving of their victory.

“We missed chance after chance in the first half, but we knew we had the quality in the squad to turn it around,” he said.

“In the second half we were the far better team, and the Bridge didn’t seem to come out at all.

“We dominated midfield and we were a different side. With our previous results, and the form we have been in, the heads could have gone down, but we reacted differently on Saturday. We knew it was a crunch game and we corrected it.”

The win does not lift them off the foot of Division Two, but it brings them level on points with Fivemiletown IIs.

“With players back from GAA I think we can pick up,” said McQuigg.

“We have four cup finals now to try to keep ourselves in the division. We know the quality is there and the lads are confident we can do it.

“There is a whole different vibe about the club in the last two weeks, and we feel we have turned the corner.”

Maguiresbridge manager Andy Carleton had no complaints about the result, despite his team holding a two goal advantage at the interval.

“We never turned up,” he admitted. “We were 4-2 up at half time but we didn’t deserve it.

“They missed a host of chances, and it should have been at least four all at half time. It was one of those days.

“Five of their goals came from us giving the ball away. It was schoolboy stuff.

“From playing very well two weeks before against Dergview, to go and play like that is just madness.

“It just didn’t happen for us in the second half. They were hungrier and it was a poor performance from start to finish.”

In a goal-packed match the opener arrived after 15 minutes when Eoghan Curran, playing his first match of the season for Rovers, benefitted from a goal keeping error to give the home team the lead.

Within three minutes Maguiresbridge had pegged them back with a Ronan McManus header from a near post corner.

They took the lead for the first time on 23 minutes when Stuart Murphy netted another header, but moments later Seamie Quigley levelled the game again with his first of the day.

Maguiresbridge pulled ahead again when Tommy McDonald converted a penalty, and Adam Chartres scored from a ball lover the top of the Rovers’ defence to give them a 4-2 lead.

The game turned on its head in the second half, with McDermott and Quigley combining time after time to punish Maguiresbridge.

McDermott got the assist for Quigley’s second goal after 55 minutes, before he scored himself with a solo effort to level the game once again.

Quigley then set up McDermott as Lisnaskea edged ahead, before McDermott provided the pass for Quigley’s hat-trick to complete the victory.