Enniskillen Athletic 2 Tummery Athletic 3

Tummery Athletic took a step closer to the Mercer League summit last Thursday evening with a 3-2 victory over Enniskillen Athletic in a rescheduled league fixture at Crawford’s Lane.

Two first-half stunners from Adrian McCaffrey and another Paudi Dillon goal were enough to see Ryan Hanna’s side get over the line taking them one point behind league leaders Enniskillen Town with a game in hand and with the two sides still to play in the final league game of the season.

Tummery player/manager Hanna said after the game: “It’s another important win. The performance was good in patches, but it was the third game in six days, so we showed signs of fatigue.”

Forward Aidan McCaffrey opened the scoring after just ten minutes when he spotted goalkeeper James Maguire off his line, and he could only watch as McCaffrey placed a delightful chip from the edge of the box over his head to make it 1-0.

Paudi Dillon doubled his side’s lead six minutes later when he cut inside on the left wing and fired a low shot that squirmed under the goalkeeper for 2-0.

It was almost three before the half-hour mark as McCaffrey drilled a left-footed shot towards the top corner only to be denied by a spectacular save from Maguire.

A makeshift Enniskillen Athletic side began to take a foothold in the game, and they were rewarded in the 31st when Colm McNally took the ball down in the centre of midfield and launched a right-footed shot from 30 yards that dipped underneath the crossbar and into the net to pull a goal back.

However, McCaffrey responded before half time, with another sensational strike as he whipped the ball from outside the box into the top right corner.

Athletic hit back in the opening period of the second half and assistant manager Emmet Cassidy caught Tummery goalkeeper Niall McCrory off guard from over 25 yards to find the bottom right corner with a looping shot only seconds after Tummery had a handball appeal turned down at the other end of the pitch.

It was not enough though to deny the Dromore side who saw out the remainder of the contest to secure another big three points in the title race.

Enniskillen Athletic player/manager Darren Rodgers was pleased with his side’s effort: “It was a good performance against Tummery considering the amount of players missing and we played some good football.

“We have two games left against Rangers and Dergview, but I think we are all looking to get the season over with at this stage.”

Up next for Tummery is Mulhern Cup finalists Strathroy Harps with Hanna adding: “We’re expecting a tough game, we know how difficult an opponent they can be. We need to be at the top of our game to get the outcome we want.”