Maguiresbridge 6 Omagh Hospitals 1

Omagh Hospitals lost their Division Two unbeaten record in spectacular style as Maguiresbridge fired six goals past the division’s in-form team.

Maguiresbridge were languishing third from the bottom of the table before kick-off, but they dominated the promotion favourites from the outset, with doubles from Shane Ingram and Tommy McDonald turning the form book on its head.

Manager Simon McCusker knew his side were capable of springing a surprise, but admitted that even he was surprised by the convincing nature of their win.

“The scorelines the last few weeks have been very harsh on us, but even I wasn’t expecting that on Saturday,” he admitted.

“We lost 4-0 to Irvinestown and we had far more chances, and then against Castlederg we played very well and created chances, so we thought something has to give soon.

“Thankfully it all came together. We dominated and it was fully deserved. They hammered us 6-2 down at their place a few weeks ago, but we dominated this one.

“Some of the football we played on Saturday was excellent and everybody was at the races. It was probably the best squad we could have put out and if I could get that out every week it would be a different season.

“If we could get a full squad every Saturday I would like to see what we could do, but we are so inconsistent in our availability every week.”

Maguiresbridge went ahead inside the first ten minutes of the match when Tommy McDonald fired a long-range free kick into the bottom corner of the net, but Hospitals levelled the game midway through the second half when Gerard Duddy pounced on a defensive mistake to net his seventh league goal of the campaign.

The teams were only level for five minutes before McDonald grabbed his second goal of the match, advancing on the goalkeeper and dinking a finish over him to restore his side's advantage.

Three minutes later Shane Ingram got in on the act, running on to Shane O’Neill’s pass and driving a low shot into the net.

Maguiresbridge continued to press forward after the half time break, and secured the victory with three goals in a ten-minute spell around the hour mark.

They moved 4-1 ahead when Lorcan McKenna headed in Philip McTeggart’s corner, and an own goal a minute later moved them further clear when Darragh Keys inadvertently diverted in Elliot Morrison’s cross into his own net.

The scoring was rounded off by Ingram, who was set clear by Ryan Moran’s pass and chipped the keeper to complete the rout.