‘We were lucky’ admits Ryder as Erne Gaels close in on place in league decider

Erne Gaels edged ever closer to a league final spot following last Friday night’s one point win over Ederney in Belleek.

A win for Erne Gaels now this Friday over Kinawley will be enough for them to book their place in the decider with a game to go.

The home side led by four points at the break, 1-07 to 0-06 but manager Seamus Ryder admits that they were maybe fortunate to hold on as Ederney came back at them in the second half.

“It was a good first half performance, we played really well.

“We were poor though in the second half and probably lucky to hold on to the win.

“We’re just glad to get the points in the end and it’s a good sign that we can still win games while not performing well,” he said.

Ederney manager Mickey Cassidy agreed that his side were unlucky to come away empty handed.

“It was a good, competitive game and coming near the end I thought we were going to push on but they managed to hang on,” he stated.

Ederney had opened the scoring through Mark McCauley but by the midway stage of the half Erne Gaels had moved five clear.

Tommy McCaffrey, Ryan Lyons and Michael Og McGarrigle landed points while the in form Ultan Kelm hit the net for the home side to make it 1-03 to 0-01.

Ederney did have points from Paul McCusker, Enda Cassidy and Niall Maguire over the remainder of the half but with Aoghan Kelm, Ultan Kelm and Dan McCann registering for Erne Gaels they went in at the break with a four point advantage.

Aoghan Kelm extended that lead with the first point of the second half but back came Ederney and with Paul McCusker and Ryan Maguire firing over they closed to within a point.

However, Erne Gaels then struck for a second goal through Barry McCann to again give them breathing space and although Ederney finished with points from McCusker, Snow and Eoin McKervey, they fell just short as Erne Gaels held on to win by the slenderest of margins.