Ardstraw 0 Tummery 3 

Tummery made it three wins in a row without conceding a goal as they cruised past Ardstraw at Vaughan’s Holm.

Ciaran Beacom opened the scoring in the first half, and after Tummery goalkeeper Nathan Hunter had saved a penalty, his brother Callum scored his first goal for the club to extend their advantage. Tommy Murphy capped the win with a third, twelve minutes from time. 

Tummery boss Kevin McAleer was delighted with his team’s victory and felt they could have won by an even bigger margin.

“I don’t think there was any question that we deserved the win, the only thing was that we should have been more out of sight in the first half alone, with chances that we didn’t take,” he said.

“It’s being very critical of them, but they were very wasteful, and then maybe getting into bad habits because we were that much on top.

"Saying that, Ardstraw are a big team and they had one or two set pieces that they did get on the end of.

"They were creating half chances, but all round we were very dominant and it was a good display. It was a really hard-working performance.” 

The manager has been particularly pleased with their defensive record, which has seen them play over 340 minutes without conceding.

“We have had three wins on the bounce, and three clean sheets in a row, which is a great base for us,” he acknowledged.  

“Over the past few years, we have been a team that might not have scored as many as we should have, but we don’t concede too many goals and that is our foundation.

"If you don’t concede then you don’t lose too many games, and they were brilliant on Saturday.” 

Tummery edged ahead after 17 minutes when Aidan McCaffrey, who started the game at left-back, whipped in a cross for Beacom to score.

The goal sparked a spell of Tummery pressure, with Callum Hunter striking the post and Ardstraw goalkeeper Jack McFarland denying Tommy Murphy and Gerard Duddy.

The home team had a chance to draw level when they won a penalty after 33 minutes, but Hunter dived to save Ben Robinson’s spot kick.  

Midway through the second half Callum Hunter ran onto McCaffrey’s pass and slotted past McFarland, with Tommy Murphy scoring the third on his first start for his new club with a header from Shea Devlin’s cross.