Omagh Hospitals 0 Enniskillen Town 3

Enniskillen Town’s dreams of a league and cup double is still alive after they dispatched Omagh Hospitals on Saturday to reach the semi finals of the Mulhern Cup.

Conall Quinn opened the scoring for the league leaders just before half time, and Frank Wallace added two second half goals to secure their passage into the last four of the competition.

Town’s joint manager Rory Judge was delighted to get past their Division Two opponents, and felt his side were worthy winners of the encounter.

“Three goals was the least we deserved and our keeper didn’t have too many shots to face either,” he said.

“It was pretty comfortable, but it was a decent cup match and they didn’t lie down by any stretch of the imagination.”

The quarter final clash brought together two in-form teams. Town were on a winning streak of eight games, but Hossies had also strung together five consecutive victories and were a match for their high flying opponents in the early stages of the contest.

Town suffered an early set back when centre half Eoin Beacom was forced off with a dead leg, and their injury crisis deepened ten minutes later when Beacom’s replacement, Ben Brown, was also unable to continue after suffering a serious knee injury.

Joint manager James McKenna became Gary Stewart’s third centre back partner but despite the upheaval Town’s defence held strong and Hospitals were struggling to make any impact in front of goal.

At the other end full back Callum Jones cannoned a shot off the crossbar, Jamal Tavares fired a shot across the face of goal and Conall Quinn blasted over the bar from 20 yards out before the deadlock was finally broken after 39 minutes when Cathal Beacom found Quinn, and he slotted past Andrew Hamilton.

Town controlled much of the game in the second half but struggled to extend their lead. Wallace was twice denied by Hamilton, and when he did beat the keeper he saw his shot come back off the crossbar.

Gary Stewart then headed over the bar from close range before Hamilton was called into action again to touch Quinn’s shot around the post.

On 72 minutes Wallace finally found the back of the net, converting Tavares’ pass to double his side’s lead, and the victory was complete a minute from the end when Wallace added his second.

Towns’ trophy quest continues on Saturday with a league game against Dergview Reserves.

Despite losing two centre halves in the cup match, Judge is hopeful that his team will retain enough quality to keep their winning run going.

“The big difference this season to other years has been that when we have been missing players, we have had good quality to bring in,” he said.

“We were missing a couple of players on Saturday and we were able to replace them with equally good players because we have that strength in depth, and hopefully that will stand to us over the remaining six league games as well.

“We are away to Dergview now and they have no first team game so it will be a tough test, but if you want to be serious about winning these things then you have to beat those teams.

“We will go up there and give it our best shot.”

 

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