Irvinestown 1 Enniskillen Town 6
Enniskillen Town maintained their winning start to the season as they fired six goals past Irvinestown to hold onto their spot at the top of the Division One table.
The result never looked in doubt as Town raced into a 3-0 halftime lead thanks to two goals from Jordan Breen and one from James Harrigan.
In the second half goals from Thomas Owens, Cathal Beacom and Frank Wallace sealed the win, with Danny Hughes grabbing a consolation for Wanderers.
Town manager Ryan Hanna felt his side were good value for their victory.
“The scoreline matched the performance,” he said. “I thought we were excellent from start to finish. We were in total control of the game.
"We had very threatening possession and we looked like we could score every time we had the ball. It was a good all-round performance, and we were solid at the back as well and didn’t concede many chances.”
Wanderers’ manager Darren Higginbotham admitted he was disappointed with the performance of his understrength side.
“I felt we dropped below a standard,” he said. “Every season it’s a difficult couple of weeks with players with dual commitments, but we always worked off the premise that when one door closes another door opens for someone else.
"It gives someone else a chance to play and keep their place in the team, but we dropped below an acceptable standard on Saturday.
"In fairness to the lads, they held their hands up and admitted that we were poor on Saturday. Town deserved to win the game comfortably.
"To take anything off Town you have to be at your best and on Saturday we didn’t help ourselves by not being at our best, but we can’t afford to get too down about it. Any team could get beaten by Town so it’s all about the response now.
"In the two weeks prior we had a good result away to Lisbellaw and a really good performance against Tummery so we can’t be too critical of the lads, but we have to remember that we can’t accept performances like Saturday if we are to achieve what we want to achieve this season.”
Town took 18 minutes to break the deadlock when Jordan Breen fired Brendan Lilley’s pass beyond Jerome Carleton’s reach, and twenty minutes later he added his second when he closed down the keeper’s clearance and the deflection carried the ball into the net.
Three minutes before the break Town scored a third when a flowing team move saw Harrigan convert Nicky Collen’s cross.
Early in the second half Thomas Owens tapped in a fourth at the back post. Cathal Beacom then had a shot saved by Carleton, but he reacted quickly to volley in the rebound.
Danny Hughes pulled one goal back with a curling shot into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area, but Wallace completed the victory with a sixth goal ten minutes from time.
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