Lisnaskea Rovers 0 Killymoon Rangers 4

A heavily depleted Lisnaskea Rovers side lost 4-0 at home to Cookstown outfit Killymoon Rangers at Castle Park on Saturday in the Junior Cup.

Rovers were without the majority of their usual squad due to Gaelic fixtures on the same weekend leading to debuts for four youth players including 15-year-old Kelan Kernaghan.

Rovers defended well in the first half and went into the break behind at 1-0.

A flurry of goals in the second half, though, gave Killymoon a convincing victory in the end as they played their way into the hat for the next round.

Killymoon controlled a lot of the ball in the first half, and they eventually broke the deadlock through a goal from Luke Patterson.

Rovers’ goalkeeper John Paul Trimble pulled off several saves to keep the score at one going into half time.

Rovers came out fighting at the start of the second half as Connor Beggan was slipped in behind the Killymoon defence to find himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but he was unable to finish.

Cillian Jones went close again for Rovers as his right-footed effort came off the crossbar as an equaliser eluded the home side.

Rovers were then punished as Killymoon turned on the pressure going forward, Richard Donaghy finished off a slick attacking move to double his side’s advantage.

It didn’t take long for the visitors to find a third as midfielder Matty Young’s effort found the net to make it three and put his side into a commanding position.

Jay Little’s strike closely followed for a fourth goal and push the game out of sight for Lisnaskea.

Rovers did, however, battle for a consolation goal towards the end, but they couldn’t find it as their Junior Cup hopes were ended for another year. Lisnaskea Rovers manager Shane O’Donnell was, though, left proud of his side’s performance.

“We had a very young side out because of the Gaelic. I was very happy to see young Kelan Kernaghan make his debut at centre half at 15 years of age.

“The young lads were excellent and unfortunately, Damien Kerr suffered a broken wrist, hopefully he has a speedy recovery.

“JP Trimble was great in goals and also Steve Jeffers was brilliant in midfield.

“We ran out of legs in the second half and Killymoon Rangers’ experience took over but so proud of the young cubs who came in.

“We hope to be back to full strength next week bar the Newtownbutler lads and now we have to make a big push in the league,” he said.