Mountjoy 4-1 Enniskillen Athletic 

Enniskillen Athletic dropped into the Division Two relegation zone after a 4-1 defeat to Mountjoy. 

Athletic went into Saturday’s match a point ahead of their opponents, but Mountjoy raced into a two-goal lead after 26 minutes, and although Athletic pulled one back through Luke Flanagan’s strike early in the second half, two more Mountjoy goals in the second half ensured they leapfrogged Athletic in the league table. 

Despite conceding four times, Athletic manager Emmett Cassidy felt his team performed well for long spells of the match and deserved more.  

“I thought on the day we dominated the game for the majority of it, even though the scoreline doesn’t show that,” he said.  

“When it was 2-1 we were completely dominating the game. After halftime we were really on top and pushing, and they were on the back foot.

"We got our first goal and we were pushing for the equaliser, but we couldn’t get it and they caught us on the break.” 

Cassidy acknowledged it was an important match for his side, as they slipped into the bottom two in the league.  

“It was a really big game for us and there wasn’t really anything in it, but we are conceding these soft goals, and it will cost us in the end up,” he admitted.  

“We are conceding soft goals at the minute because we can’t get a regular team out and it is being chopped and changed.

"It’s hard to get any sort of consistency.  We don’t really have someone to score goals for us. We play nice football but if you are not scoring and you are conceding soft goals, then you are going to be in trouble.

"It comes back to not having the consistent blend every week. In the last three weeks, we have had basically three different elevens, and it is very hard to compete when you are doing that week in and week out.” 

In contrast to Athletic who had not won any of their four preceding matches, Mountjoy had lost only one of their last four ahead of the clash and they started in confident fashion, going ahead after just five minutes.  

Athletic goalkeeper James Maguire made a diving stop to deny Mountjoy, but the loose ball fell to Stuart Graham who chipped it over the prone keeper.

Midway through the half, the Tyrone side doubled their advantage when Gareth Davis finished off a left-wing cross. 

Athletic made a positive start to the second half and pulled a goal back one minute after the restart.  

Nathan Simpson and Luke Flanagan combined in midfield, with Flanagan slotting past Gareth Barbour into the bottom corner of the net, but Athletic could not find an equaliser and William Simpson turned a cross past his own goalkeeper to extend Mountjoy’s lead.

Another own goal in the final minute of the game, this time from Liam MacEnri, sealed the win for Mountjoy.