Enniskillen Town 4 Lisnaskea Rovers 2

Enniskillen Town booked their place in the quarter finals of the Mulhern Cup with victory over Lisnaskea Rovers at St. Michael’s Pavillion last Thursday night.

However, it was not the plain sailing that many would have expected with the Division Three side twice getting back into the game against the Division One league leaders before Jamal Tavares put the game to bed late on with the home side’s fourth goal.

“It was one of those games where you feel you are in complete control, but twice we opened the door for them to get back into it, so that was disappointing.

“Credit to Lisnaskea though – they scored two really good goals and kept going, and good luck to them for the rest of the season.

“From our point of view, we will look to the positives and that is that we are through to the next round and we scored another four goals,” said Town joint-manager James McKenna.

The home side got off to the start they would have wished for when Captain Cathal Beacom put them ahead early on with a good right foot finish after he was slipped in by Frank Wallace.

And it all appeared to be going according to plan as Town doubled their money midway through the first period as Lee Brennan slotted home.

Rovers though were given hope in the 40th minute when Sean Keenan’s superb whipped cross was tucked home by Aidan Keenan to make it 2-1.

But the home side restored their two-goal advantage moments later as Beacom got in for his second, getting in between two defenders to slot home a Callum Jones cross as Town went in at the break with a 3-1 lead.

Lisnaskea were again back in the game on the hour mark as John Paul O’Reilly finished from another excellent cross from Sean Keenan, but the game was put to bed 11 minutes from time as substitute Tavares converted at the back post from a Brendan Lilley cross.

It is back to league matters this week for Enniskillen Town in their pursuit of the title with a tricky away encounter against NFC Kesh.

And McKenna is expecting a reaction from Kesh after two cup defeats in back-to-back weeks.

“I’m sure that Rocket [Ryan Campbell] will be looking for a reaction after going out of two cups in two weeks, and I’m sure the players will be keen to give him a reaction, so we are under no illusions about how tough it will be.

“Kesh is always a tough place to go anyway, but we are looking forward to it, and we will do everything we can this week to be ready for it,” added McKenna.

 

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