Derrychara United 1 Tummery Athletic 2

Tummery scored an injury time penalty to maintain their winning start to the season at the expense of Derrychara United.

The newly promoted Enniskillen side looked like they were going to claim a share of the points against the reigning champions, but were denied by Aidy McCaffrey’s 92nd minute spot kick.

Derrychara manager Andy Reilly admitted it was a difficult result to take, given his side’s performance.

“Another tough lesson for the group but I’m confident these lessons will stand them in good stead,” he reflected.

“We certainly feel the least we deserved was a point, in fact a draw would’ve felt like two points dropped, but we will go again.

“In truth, if we had taken our chances everyone wouldn’t have been talking about the soft penalty at the end.”

Tummery manager Ryan Hanna acknowledged his team were far from their best on Saturday, despite claiming the win.

“We were poor,” he conceded.

“We were well under par, but it is testament to the boys that have been training that their fitness levels are decent.

“We kept plugging away until the end, and maybe we got that bit of luck to get the second penalty.

“They missed their’s and we scored our second one and that’s how it goes sometimes. Clutch players like McCaffrey are able to step up.

“It has been a difficult pre-season with player availability and injury, and we have lost a few players, so I’m delighted with how we have started and it’s nice to have three out of three.”

Penalty

Goalmouth action was at a premium in the opening half an hour of the match, with both defences on top, but Tummery made the breakthrough with their first chance of the match.

Kyle McCrory chased a long ball into the Derrychara penalty area before being fouled by the home keeper Josh Brownlee, with captain McCaffrey making no mistake from 12 yards.

Derrychara’s Lee Glass had a shot saved by Niall Mc Crory, and Craig Johnston had a long range effort easily collected by the keeper as the sides reached half time separated by just the penalty.

Reilly introduced Ryan O’Keefe and Ollie Russell from the bench for the home side ten minutes into the second half, and O’Keefe made an immediate impact when he fired low past the keeper to level the scores.

Brownlee then produced a good stop to deny Tummery making a quick riposte, while at the other end Johnston’s goal from a free kick was ruled out for offside.

Derrychara were looking the more likely to find a late winner and Paddy Beresford and O’Keefe both went close, but Tummery were always dangerous, and Brownlee had to deny Kyle McCrory in a one on one.

In the final minute of the 90 Derrychara were gifted with a great opportunity to take the lead when Fintan McCarney was adjudged to have fouled O’Keefe inside the penalty area, but Johnston had his penalty kick saved by McCrory.

And they were made to pay for that miss in dramatic fashion when Martin Hughes was brought down inside the area, and McCaffrey stepped up to claim the points for Tummery.