Lisbellaw 2-4 Irvinestown Wanderers


Irvinestown Wanderers picked up a big result in their opening fixture of the season on Tuesday.

A brace from Stephen Sheridan and goals via Joey Millar and Odhran Mulligan saw them run out 4-2 winners at Drumad.

Manager Darren Higginbotham was pleased to see his side make a winning start as his side hope to retain their Mercer League status this year.

“Really happy to get the three points,” he said. “It hasn’t been an easy pre-season but I have to give the lads their dues, they really pulled together.

"We knew the first-half was going to be a case of finding our bearings. Lisbellaw probably had the benefit of having a game on Saturday and we lacked a bit of sharpness, but in the second half, we really pulled ourselves together and scored some excellent goals.

"We rode our luck at times but ultimately, created some really good chances.”

Meanwhile, Lisbellaw drew 2-2 with Ardstraw on Saturday before Tuesday’s loss.

“I can’t believe we lost that, I haven’t seen us dominate a game as much in a long, long time so to come away with nothing is bitterly disappointing. But that’s football, you don’t take your chances, you’ll get punished,” Lisbellaw player/manager Kyle McCleery said after losing to Wanderers.

Josh Largo Elis played in Sheridan for the opening goal as the forward fired into the bottom left corner.

Jack Foster made it 1-1 before the 15-minute mark as the home side then got on top as Jerome Carleton denied Scott Moutray from close range.

Moutray and Philip Beacom also went close but the teams went in at halftime at 1-1.

Millar put Wanderers ahead with just over 20 minutes to go when Caolan Ward took down a long ball from Carleton and played it across goal for Millar to make it 2-1.

Another long ball resulted in Sheridan finding his way in front of goal again and gave Irvinestown breathing room with a neat finish.

Lisbellaw had a host of chances in between Irvinestown’s goals but just couldn’t beat Carleton in goal, however, they eventually did pull one back in injury time as a Moutray header was pushed out and Foster followed up to make it 3-2.

Mulligan wrapped up the scoring late on as Millar pulled the ball across goal and the substitute found the bottom left corner to leave it at 4-2.