Enniskillen 2-09 Derrygonnelly 0-11

Enniskillen Gaels bounced back from their defeat to Belnaleck with a hard fought victory over last season’s double winners Derrygonnelly Harps at Brewster Park on Friday night.

In an at times ill-tempered affair, goals from John Reihill and Paddy Reihill had the home side three points to the good at the break, 2-06 go 0-09.

The second half though was a fractious encounter with referee Barry Monaghan flashing four red cards and only five points registered over the 30 plus minutes of play as Enniskillen saw off a Derrygonnelly side, who finished with 12 men, on a 2-09 to 0-11 scoreline.

Gaels manager Simon Bradley was happy with the reaction of his side after the loss to Belnaleck six days earlier.

“I was pleased with the performance after a poor display in the defeat to Belnaleck, it was a good response from the players,” he said. “We are very aware though that this is just one league game and both sides were missing players so it won’t have much bearing on anything that will come later.”

There was little between the sides in the early stages of the contest with Ryan Jones opening the scoring from a free before John Reihill, who was an influential figure in the Enniskillen attack, levelled soon after.

Conor Love edged Enniskillen ahead but Derrygonnelly replied with a Ryan Jones point from play and a Conall Jones free. However, Enniskillen then struck for the first goal of the game in the ninth minute through John Reihill, the full forward palming to the net after the ball was fed across the goal by Paddy Reihill to make it 1-02 to 0-03.

When Love quickly followed up with a further point it moved Enniskillen three ahead but Derrygonnelly were to enjoy the better of the exchanges over the next five minutes as they landed three points in a row to level up matters.

Conall Jones fired over after winning a long ball and Stephen Gilroy then tagged on two points to leave it 1-03 to 0-06 after 16 minutes.

Another Love score, after a good ball from Reihill, saw Enniskillen get their noses back in front and with 20 minutes on the clock they swooped for their second goal as Paddy Reihill slotted home at the second attempt to make it 2-04 to 0-06.

The Harps answered with a contentious Ryan Jones point, the home side feeling that his effort had just tailed wide, but with John Reihill and Ethan Beresford tagging on points they stretched their lead out to five points.

However, Derrygonnelly got themselves back into the game at the end of the half as Ryan Jones and Garvan Jones knocked over frees to leave three between the sides at the interval.

Tempers though flared five minutes into the second half as a melee resulted in Ryan Jones and Richie O’Callaghan receiving their marching orders from Monaghan.

Conor Burns and Paddy Reihill traded points after this but although Derrygonnelly were getting their hands on plenty of ball, they were struggling to turn this into scores.

The next score didn’t arrive until the 52nd minute when John Reihill clipped over following a quick break by the Gaels to put four in it and the Harps then had Declan Cassidy and Paul Ward dismissed as they were reduced to 12 men.

They did though cause problems for Enniskillen late on despite the numerical disadvantage with Conall Jones leaving three between the sides from a converted free.

But a point from late substitute Brandon Horan wrapped things up for Enniskillen as they saw the game out to finish up 2-09 to 0-11 winners.

Derrygonnelly joint manager Mick Glynn had no complaints about the outcome. “Enniskillen deserved the win,” said Glynn.