Tummery Athletic 3 Enniskillen Athletic 2

Martin Hughes’ 80th-minute winner ensured that Tummery Athletic remain very much in the hunt to retain the Mercer League title after a 3-2 victory over Enniskillen Athletic at Crawford’s Lane on Saturday.

With Enniskillen Rangers’ 3-1 win over Enniskillen Town, Tummery can go level on points with leaders Town if they win their two games in hand.

Player-Manager Ryan Hanna knows how important Saturday’s win could turn out to be.

“Tough game. Really pleased with the manner of the victory. We played well in the first half and were good for our 2-0 lead. In the second half, Athletic were much the better team for 20-25 minutes and deserved their two goals.

“Overall, I was delighted with our response at 2-2. We showed character and resilience to go on and get the winner.”

It was the home side who dominated virtually the whole of the first half as Athletic were under the cosh from the get-go and were limited to a couple of long-range efforts.

Martin Hughes broke the deadlock for Tummery after half an hour when his drilled effort deflected and clipped the post on its way in for a deserved 1-0 lead.

Brian Campbell doubled the lead just before half-time after a quick interchange with Hughes, he finished neatly into the bottom-right corner as last year’s champions took a 2-0 lead going into the break.

A much-improved Athletic side came out in the second half and almost found a response inside the first couple of minutes, but Conor Burns’ header from a corner flew just over the crossbar.

Athletic Manager Darren Rodgers was pleased to welcome back Enniskillen Gaels players Aaron Nolan, John Reihill and Paddy Reihill following last week’s exit from the Ulster Club Championship, and it was Nolan who almost pulled one back with a header from a corner but this time it cannoned off the crossbar.

It was third time lucky as Burns’ header beat the impressive Niall McCrory in goal to make it 2-1.

Athletic searched for a second and found it when John Reihill was brought down in the box, and he stepped up to convert the spot-kick with 20 minutes to go.

The away side weren’t able to capitalise on their momentum, though, and instead, Tummery came back into it with Hughes grabbing the winner with ten minutes remaining with a well-timed finish to keep his side firmly in the title race.