Enniskillen Town 7 Magherafelt Sky Blues 1

Enniskillen Town sealed their place in the last 32 of the Junior Cup with a 7-1 win over Magherafelt Sky Blues at St Michael’s on Saturday.

Duwayne McManus, Frank Wallace and Conall Quinn all bagged braces while Cathal Beacom also got in on the scoring act but Town manager Rory Judge admitted the scoreline was harsh on the visitors who had played some very good football, especially in the early stages.

“They were a better team than the scoreline suggests,” said Judge. “We took the lead and after that they had two one on ones to add to their lead but Doc (Gary Doherty) saved twice with his feet. If it goes 2-0 or 3-0 it could be a different game but then we hit three goals in a seven minute spell at the end of the first half.

“Even at half time though we knew that they were still very much in the game but we got our fourth early in the second half and we were able to push on. We were clinical in the second half and it was a pleasing performance. It was important for us to stay in the competition in the New Year.”

It was Magherafelt who were to draw first blood in the game as they made the most of a defensive error to take the lead.

And it could have been better for the away side as they created further chances but Doherty pulled off two good saves to stop them increasing their advantage.

Town though had looked threatening themselves and with 38 minutes on the clock they levelled matters as Wallace flicked home a whipped ball by McManus.

Five minutes later the home side took the lead as McManus calmly dinked the ball over the goalkeeper after being put through by Beacom and McManus added his second on the stroke of half time to leave it 3-1 at the interval.

Town started the second half where they left off in the first and eight minutes into the half they extended their lead as Conall Quinn tucked home at the second attempt to make it 4-1.

Wallace quickly added number five as he beat the offside trap to lob the goalkeeper and Quinn grabbed his second when he bundled home from a Conor Tummon cross.

Beacom then rounded off the scoring late on with a typical strike to the corner as Town put their name in the hat for the next round of the competition.

It is back to league matters this week and Judge is expecting a tough test when his side host NFC Kesh.

“It is going to be a difficult game. I think it is two fairly evenly matched teams and although we won the two games last season, they were both tight affairs and I would expect the exact same this Saturday,” he stated.