Augher Stars 0-4 Enniskillen Town

Ryan Hanna made the perfect start to his tenure as Enniskillen Town manager as his new team fired four goals past Augher Stars without reply, with the division one newcomers seeing red twice as they were reduced to nine players before half time.

Thomas Owens had given Town an early lead and Jordan Breen doubled their advantage just before halftime, with Adam McDonald and James Harrigan completing a convincing victory.

Hanna was delighted with Town’s performance, especially in the early stages of the contest when Stars were still at full strength.

“The first 20 minutes I thought we were excellent. In fact, excellent probably doesn’t even do us justice,” he said.

“I thought we were really at it. We controlled the ball and were very aggressive in attack and had a load of chances.

"I think three of four goals wouldn’t have flattered us in that period. It was good to get that first goal when it came but to be honest, we should have scored earlier.”

The game swung decisively in Town’s favour just before the interval when Craig McSweeney and captain Mark Kerr both received second yellow cards in the same incident, with Hanna admitting he was happy with how his players dealt with the chaos.  

“For us, we just focused on ourselves, and I was proud of the lads for not getting involved in any of that,” he said.

“We focused on the task at hand. The second half was about us being focused and doing the right thing and playing in the right manner.

"They were down to nine men, but credit to them, they defended resolutely and they never gave up.

"They were superb in terms of damage limitation, and they held us for about 30 minutes before we got the third.

"We did have umpteen chances, which was the frustrating part for me. We were creating them but we just weren’t putting them away, but it was the first game and that will come with rhythm and more game time.”

Augher Stars fell behind in the tenth minute of their first match in the top flight, but the home team were adamant Owens was offside before he headed James Harrigan’s cross over the keeper and into the net.

Town continued to press forward and new signing  Nicky Collen had a shot saved before Breen shot wide of the post and Hanna had an effort blocked.

Tempers spilled over after 39 minutes, and with Stars’ numbers reduced  Town quickly extended their lead when Harrigan beat two defenders on the right wing and squared for Breen to finish first time from seven yards.

Stars were working hard to contain Town’s attacking threat and they managed to hold out until the 75th minute when Cathal Beacom whipped a ball in from the left and Adam  McDonald headed in at the back post.

Harrigan sealed the victory with a curling effort from a short corner two minutes later.