Enniskillen 1-11 Ederney 0-10

Enniskillen took the points on offer as they saw off Ederney at Brewster Park as the Senior Football Championship got under way last Friday night.

A strong start to the second half laid the platform for Enniskillen to go on and claim the spoils.

The Gaels hit 1-02 in the opening six minutes after the resumption with the sides having gone in level at the break, and while Ederney fought to the end, they couldn’t close the gap significantly enough as Enniskillen finished up four-point victors.

While pleased with the win, Enniskillen Manager Simon Bradley feels that there is plenty of room for improvement in his side as they get ready to travel to Roslea this Sunday.

“We’ll be looking to build on the Ederney game which was far from perfect. Ederney missed a lot of chances in the game and we still have a lot to improve on,” said Bradley, who expects a stern test in Roslea after the Shamrocks lost their opening game against Kinawley.

“We are coming up against a team that lost their first game, and like all the other teams who lost their first game, they will be desperate to win their second.

“Roslea is a difficult place to go to at the best of times but even more so for a championship and we are going to have to improve.

“We will be going there though looking for the win, and we know that if you have two wins it leaves you with everything to play for in the final game,” added Bradley.

The Gaels Manager admitted that it was that period directly after half time that was telling in the victory under the lights at Brewster Park on Friday night.

“We had three chances in the first six minutes of the second half, and we took all of them, and that changed the complexion of the game as it meant that Ederney had to come out at us.

“However, we would be disappointed that at five points up, we didn’t kick on as we would have liked,” he said.

Ederney now host Kinawley this Saturday night, and while home advantage has proved important to date, St. Joseph’s Manager, Mickey Cassidy, says that you still have to go out and perform.

“Home games are big ones but that doesn’t guarantee you win it – you have to go out and perform.

“Kinawley are coming into the game after a good win over Roslea and they have two or three good scoring forwards who we will need to keep tabs on, and then at the other end we can’t afford to miss the chances that we missed last week.

“We missed far too much against Enniskillen and we have to be better in that regard this Saturday,” said Cassidy.

A low-scoring affair

The first half was a low-scoring affair, although Ederney will have felt that they should have gone in at the break in front as they failed to convert a number of chances.

It was tit for tat over the opening ten minutes as the lively Conor Love landed two points for Enniskillen while Paul McCusker and Chris Snow from a ’45 replied for Ederney.

The home side nudged back ahead when Brandon Horan powered through a challenge before slotting over, while at the other end Ederney were showing a wastefulness in front of the posts.

A good score from Pól McKervey though had them back on level terms, while Snow then stepped up and drilled over an excellent free from the left-hand side.

Enniskillen did have a goal chance when Ryan McDonnell raced in, but Snow pushed his effort onto the base of the post, but the sides did go in at the break on level terms as Eoin Beacom slotted over after the home side had turned over possession to leave it 0-04 apiece at the interval.

It was in that opening spell of the second half though that the game swung decisively in Enniskillen’s favour.

Within two minutes of the resumption the Gaels had the ball in the back of the net as Brandon Horan and Conor McShea combined to tee up Ethan Beresford, and he fired low past Snow.

Love then converted a free after a foul on Horan, before McShea raced in and tapped over to put Enniskillen into a 1-06 to 0-04 lead.

Conor McGee, who was Ederney’s best performer on the night, registered their first score of the second half and Jacob Britton followed up with a point as Ederney reduced the deficit to three points.

That though was as close as the St. Joseph’s men got with Enniskillen knocking over three of the next four points to push the gap back out to five.

Richard O’Callaghan, Love and McShea all rattled over points with Paul McCusker converting a free for Ederney.

Ederney did almost get right back into the game when Ryan Maguire was put through, but his rising effort clipped the top of the crossbar and went over.

Five ahead

When Love blazed over his fifth point of the game it again put Enniskillen five ahead, with 56 minutes on the clock, although Ederney did answer with two McGee points while Enniskillen had to see the game out with 14 men after Ryan McDonnell picked up a second Yellow Card.

Enniskillen though were not to be denied and O’Callaghan fired over the insurance point deep in added-on time as they secured a 1-11 to 0-10 win.

Scorers:

Enniskillen: C Love 0-05 (1f); E Beresford 1-00; C McShea 0-02; R O'Callaghan 0-02; B Horan 0-01; E Beacom 0-01

Ederney: C McGee 0-03; P McCusker 0-02 (1f); C Snow 0-02 (1'45, 1f); P McKervey 0-01; J Britton 0-01, R Maguire 0-01