Tummery Athletic 4 Mountfield 1

Tummery Athletic came from behind to defeat Mountfield in the Mulhern Cup quarter final and set up a repeat of their Irish Junior Cup semi-final clash with rivals Enniskillen Rangers.

The reigning league champions fell behind to Division Two Mountfield just two minutes into the contest, but hit back with goals from Ciaran Beacom and Martin Hughes to lead at half-time.

They confirmed their place in the last four with two more second-half goals, Beacom scoring his second before player/manager Ryan Hanna sealed the win.

Hanna felt his side’s slow start was a by-product of Wednesday’s cup defeat, but once they adjusted to the early setback they were fully deserving of their victory.

“It was a very taxing game on Wednesday night, mentally, physically, emotionally, and it showed early on in the game on Saturday,” he admitted.

“We went 1-0 down very early on, I suppose a bit of a hangover from Wednesday, but we had made a few changes and tried to freshen it up and after that we kicked into gear because it had shaken us a wee bit.

"After that we got more rhythm and more control. In fairness to Mountfield they made it difficult for us. They sat in deep and we had to try and break them down.

"In the second half we were much better. Our decision-making was much better, we moved it quicker, and started to pull Mountfield around a bit more to create space.”

The quarter-final success means a second semi-final against Rangers in quick succession, but Hanna does not believe last week’s defeat will have a major impact on their next meeting.

“I think you have to take every game on its own merit,” he said. “We talked about motivation for the lads, and maybe you shouldn’t need it at times, but on Saturday we did because of what happened on Saturday.

"We knew that there would be a bit of deja vu with Rangers at Ferney Park and another semi-final, but we have got there on merit and we have to change the outcome next time.”

Mountfield just missed out on promotion from Division Two this season, but they made the perfect start when they took the lead with the contest only two minutes old.

Tiernan McCann cut inside the defender from the left wing and drilled a low shot from outside the penalty area that found the bottom corner of the net.

Tummery needed a stroke of good luck to get back into the match when right-back Beacom’s cross evaded everyone and sneaked in at the far post to level the scores, and two minutes before half-time they went ahead for the first time when Tommy Mullin’s cross from the left was headed in by Hughes from eight yards out.

As the second half progressed Tummery looked increasingly dominant, and they were rewarded just after the hour mark when a stretching Beacom side-footed a 40-yard pass from Aidy McCaffrey across the keeper and inside the post.

Tummery sealed the win in the 74th minute when substitute Malachy McLaughlin broke down the left wing and squared the ball for Hanna to finish first-time from 10 yards.