Enniskillen Athletic 1-1 Magheraveely

Enniskillen Athletic and Magheraveely shared the points in a game that could have a huge say on who is to be relegated from the Mercer League this year.

Athletic still sit just a point above the Clones side after Shea Treanor cancelled out Conor McAloon’s opener in horrendous weather conditions at the Lakeland Forum on Saturday afternoon.

Match official Kevin Taggart spoke to both sets of management twice during the game about continuing the game with heavy hail and rain falling for the majority of the contest.

“Very happy with the performance in awful weather conditions,” Athletic manager Rodgers said after the game.

“First half we had plenty of chances and the second half was always going to be difficult against a strong wind but a draw was probably a fair enough result. It was a real team effort and I thought everyone put in a great shift.”

Athletic played with the wind in the first half and racked up an early amount of free kicks that were swung into the box but with nothing to really trouble goalkeeper Corey Smith until McAloon’s free kick from 40 yards was caught by the breeze and sailed over Smith and dropped into the net for 1-0 after 18 minutes.

Despite the early pressure from the Enniskillen side Mahgeraveely responded well and grabbed an equaliser just moments later as a ball straight over the top of the back four was latched onto by Treanor running in off the left wing and he steadied himself before finishing low past Athletic goalkeeper Ryan McNulty for 1-1.

The visitors almost had a second shortly after when Juvenal Mesquita’s curling effort to the bottom right corner was brilliantly pawed away by McNulty.

Chances were limited for both sides for the remainder of the first half with the weather not allowing any real pattern of play to develop.

Magheraveely enjoyed more of the ball playing with the wind in the second half but despite having possession in the final third, for parts, didn’t manage to create any clear-cut chances.

The closest they came was from a long kick out of the hands of goalkeeper Smith that worried his opposition number after a heavy bounce but was then caught to the relief of McNulty.

Athletic almost snatched it towards the end when Colm McNally rose highest from a corner but his header pinged off the crossbar and even with eight minutes of added time there would be no winning goal as the teams settled for a draw.