Lisnaskea Rovers 1 Maguiresbridge 0

Lisnaskea Rovers progressed through to the next round of the Mulhern Cup after a scrappy 1-0 derby victory against neighbours Maguiresbridge at Castle Park.

Corey McAree’s goal in the 38th minute separated the sides while Rovers’ goalkeeper, Michael McGrath, denied Ryan Moran from the penalty spot in the second half.

Chances were limited in the first half as Rovers’ defender Dara O’Reilly and midfielder Eoghan Curran went closest with long-range efforts before the half-hour mark.

Lisnaskea’s goal came seven minutes before half time as Johnny O’Reilly’s strike from outside the box was pushed away by goalkeeper Damien McManus, but he couldn’t hold onto the ball under pressure from Brian McDermott, and the ball rolled out to McAree who, 30 yards from goal, struck it with the outside of his right foot over McManus and it curled into the empty goal to break the deadlock.

O’Reilly went close to adding a second in the opening minutes of the second half as Eimhin Curran cut the ball back to the edge of the box after beating his man, and O’Reilly’s looping effort flew just over the crossbar to let the ’Bridge defence off with just a scare.

Referee Gareth McGuckin awarded Maguiresbridge a penalty when striker Shane Ingram was sandwiched between two Rovers defenders in the 65th minute.

Ryan Moran stepped up for the away side and placed his shot low to the bottom left, but ’keeper McGrath got down to parry the ball out and the rebound was drilled across the Lisnaskea goal and wide.

The Division Three leaders almost punished their Division Two rivals straight away as Eimhin Curran – who was a constant threat – went on another run down the left and closed in on goal before toe-poking an effort at the near post that came off the joint, and O’Reilly could only react quick enough to fire wide on the rebound.

Maguiresbridge committed men forward in the final few minutes, but were restricted to a few shots from outside the box as they crashed out of this year’s Mulhern.

Lisnaskea Rovers manager Shane O’Donnell said after the win: “It was a hard-fought win; all the lads did great. Corey’s goal was brilliant, and the defence were excellent.

“We play Town [in the next round] which is a massive task, as they are the best all-round team about, in my eyes.

“We will give it a go, and see how we cope with the best team in the Fermanagh and Western.”

 

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