Enniskillen Rangers 5

Irvinestown Wanderers 1

Enniskillen Rangers eased to a 5-1 win over Irvinestown Wanderers at the Ball Range on Saturday finally asserting their superiority in the final quarter of this encounter.

Irvinestown were not without good spells of pressure especially at the start of the second half but they rarely tested ‘Gers keeper Luke Johnston and in the end it was the better all around play and more clinical finishing of the home team that decided this encounter.

Rangers manager Neil Coulter has been pleased with the progress of his team in recent weeks.

“I thought we thoroughly deserved to win and put together some great passages of play,” explained Neil. He added: “I think we have played well in the last three games and maybe we have not got the results we deserved so it was good this week to get the performance and the result.”

Coulter is settling in well into the position of boss having taken over from Michael Kerr and the return of some key players is definitely helping.

“Some quality players are back in the squad after injury and suspension and there is definitely good competition for places. We have also added a naturally left sided player in Conor Rippey and he impressed in his 50 minutes. There is a good buzz in training and I think we are playing as well as we have for a while now with some big games coming up which is a positive sign.”

The defeat leaves Irvinestown at the foot of the table with a real relegation fight on their hands with nine games remaining and several wins to escape the drop.

The game had a quiet opening with chance few and far between in the opening 15 minutes and indeed, Rangers opened the scoring with their first decent attempt.

New signing Conor Rippey was central to the goal as he delivered an inch perfect cross from the left hand side for Jason Keenan who adeptly slotted the ball into the bottom corner past Jerome Carleton.

Rangers doubled their money soon after when Keenan and Ciaran Smith combined well with the latter’s first effort well saved by Carleton but the ball broke to Smith who made no mistake at the second attempt for 2-0.

Mark Cutler then had a good chance to make it 3-0 but fired his shot just over the bar after which Irvinestown went down the other end and got themselves back into the game.

Rangers failed to adequately clear a corner and Joey Millar fired a high ball to the back post which the unmarked Seanie Mahon volleyed expertly into the roof of the net.

Stuart Rainey rattled a shot over the bar just before the break as the game remained in the melting pot at the interval.

On the restart, Irvinestown were in the ascendancy but chances were at a premium, their best effort coming when Gary Maguire fizzed in a superb ball that was well cleared by Richard Johnston.

At the other end, Rangers started to get on top but the excellent Carleton made a super double save to first deny Johnston with a good effort from outside the box and then he stopped a Smith shot from close range low down to his right.

Eoin McManus then let fly from 30 yards which Carleton somehow finger-tipped onto the bar and the Rangers pressure finally told soon after when they put the game to bed.

A Rangers corner broke to Keenan whose shot was blocked at close range and while Rangers claimed hand ball, Johnston fired the breaking ball left footed into the corner of the net for 3-1.

It was 4-1 soon after, substitute Ciaran Brough made inroads down the left and then the ball was fed into Smith whose clever flick played in Cutler who sidefooted the ball into the corner of the net.

Rangers saved the best for last when some excellent one touch football opened the Wanderers again as Johnston and Cutler combined with Keenan finishing off the move for 5-1 ahead of the final whistle.