Enniskillen Town 4 Lisbellaw United 0

Enniskillen Town moved ten points clear at the top of the Mercer League following Saturday’s 4-0 win over Lisbellaw at St. Michael’s Pavillion.

The home side did the damage in the first half as two goals from Cathal Beacom and one from Eoin Beacom left them 3-0 up at the interval.

And Duwayne McManus added a fourth in the second period as Town ran out comfortable winners.

For Town joint manager James McKenna, it was a satisfying return to action after the Christmas break.

“We were pleased with the 90 minutes, there was not much to pick holes in, especially after no competitive football for the last five or six weeks.

“You sometimes find that when you come back after Christmas that it can be hard to pick up where you left off so in that respect we were happy with the performance .

“We were well worth the win against a good Lisbellaw side who have regularly given us problems,” said McKenna.

Next up for Town is an away meeting with an in form Beragh Swifts side and McKenna knows that they face a big test, Swifts having beaten Town when the sides met earlier in the league.

“It is a big one and we don’t need to be warned about Beragh after they beat us at home and then you look at the result they had at the Ball Range against Rangers last week. They are a good team who play to their strengths and they have goals in the team. It is a tough place to go and I expect a massive test,” he added.

Lisbellaw manager Kyle McCleery admitted that his side never came out of the blocks at all on Saturday.

“I was really disappointed with our performance. It is probably the worst we have played in a long, long time when it was a game that we needed to raise our performance. It was 3-0 after about 25 minutes and it was all done and dusted at that stage. We just didn’t turn up at all,” he said.

McCleery though is hoping that the ‘Law can bounce back this week when they take on bottom of the table Derrychara United.

“We will be looking for an improved performance this week. Derrychara have have had a couple of heavy defeats but we won’t be taking them for granted and we’ll be aiming to get back to winning ways,” he added.

Town showed their intent from the outset with Lee Brennan forcing a fine save out of Lisbellaw custodian Willie McFrederick after only two minutes.

And with five minutes on the clock the league leaders swooped for the first goal of the game from captain Cathal Beacom who fired home after being teed up by McManus.

It was not long before Town doubled their advantage with Beacom grabbing his second of the day and 14th of the season. He got on the end of a tidy through ball from Brendan Lilley before sweeping past McFrederick to make it 2-0.

Town continued to cause problems for the visitors defence and Gary Stewart had a great chance to further extend their advantage when he got on the end of a McManus corner but his header was cleared off the line.

Lisbellaw did show glimpses of what they were capable of as Lewis Vance got down the left hand side and flashed a ball across the Town six yard box but it was prodded wide at the back post.

Instead, it was the home side who were to go on and increase their lead as they made it 3-0.

McManus’ inswinging corner was met by Eoin Beacom who thumped a header to the back of the Lisbellaw net.

McCleery’s dissatisfaction with his side’s display saw him make four changes at the interval and they were more competitive in the second half without ever really threatening Pat Cadden in the Town goal.

And Town went on to put the game to bed with a fine fourth goal, McManus sweeping home from 12 yards from a Brennan centre.

Indeed, it could have been more as McManus’ delicate back heeled pass put Frank Wallace in on the left hand side but McFrederick was equal to the effort, pulling off a cracking save.

The game petered out after this with Town ringing the changes including a debut for new arrival Jamal Tavares.

In the end it proved a comfortable outing for the league leaders but they will be expecting tougher this weekend when they travel to Beragh.

 

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