NFC Kesh 5 Mountjoy United 1

NFC Kesh returned to league action with a convincing 5-1 win at home to relegation-threatened Mountjoy United at Michael Connolly Park on Saturday to move up to fifth spot in Division One.

Goals from Gareth Keys, Sean McDonagh (2), Lee Walker and player-manager Ryan Campbell were enough to see off the Tyrone side after a dominant display following Kesh’s exits from both the Mulhern and Junior Cup in previous weeks.

Campbell said after the game: “It was good to get back to winning ways after the upsets in the cups.

“We are back up and running now with that result and it was good to see some fringe players getting some action also.”

Campbell created the first goal of the game as he beat his man on the right-hand side of the box and cut the ball across for the oncoming Gareth Keys, who took one touch before firing past Gareth Barbour in the Mountjoy goal.

However, Mountjoy struck back against the run of play ten minutes later .

A diagonal ball was played to forward Michael Reid, who steadied himself before applying a neat finish to level the game just over 20 minutes in.

But, Kesh replied instantly, as the ball rolled out to midfielder Lee Walker 25 yards from goal and he fired in a terrific right-footed strike into the top right corner as Kesh regained the lead.

Mountjoy almost made it 2-2 shortly after but they were denied by a fantastic save from goalkeeper Ross McClelland.

Sean McDonagh made it 3-1 in the 35th minute as he went on a surging run into the box and slotted the ball across goal into the bottom right corner with his left foot to give his side a two-goal advantage at half time.

Campbell stepped up from the penalty spot eight minutes into the second half and made no mistake as Kesh looked comfortable with over half an hour to play.

McDonagh then finished off the scoring in injury time with a well-placed left-footed strike into the bottom right corner from 25 yards following a Kesh counter-attack.

Derrychara are next on the horizon for Kesh and despite their record this season, manager Campbell is expecting a difficult encounter against the bottom of the table outfit.

“They’ve had some bad results but fair play to them, they have stuck at it and want to see out the season and they won’t want to get beat.

“It will be a good further chance to get a look at the younger players for us,” he commented.