Ronan Ormsby keeps the pressure on for Irvinestown.
Maguiresbridge 1
Irvinestown Wanderers 6
Maguiresbridge battled bravely in the opening half of this Division 2 contest before Irvinestown took control and ran out handsome winners in the end, Chris O’Brien helping himself to a fourth hat-trick of the season as the top scorers in the Division hit another half dozen goals by the final whistle.
The hosts poor run was extended to one win in nine and they are right in the relegation mix with just four games to play. Wanderers on the other hand maintained their push for promotion back to the top flight with three more points after producing a strong second half showing.
The contest was just 12 minutes old when Gary Maguire opened the scoring, the forward reacting quickest to a rasping drive from distance by Ronan Ormsby which couldn’t be held by the home goalkeeper.
Maguiresbridge were playing with the elements in their favour and having put together a good period of pressure on the Wanderers defence, the hosts levelled and almost took the lead only for TJ McMulkin to make a fine save.
In the second half Irvinestown were much more fluent in their approach play and restored their lead when Chris O’Brien got his first after a mazy run from Ronan Ormsby.
The visitors moved two clear on 59 minutes when a great cross from Rory Cassidy was met by the head of Kevin Swift, the powerful header giving the home keeper no chance.
Irvinestown were well on top at this stage and having kept possession for a long period they added a fourth with 20 minutes to play. Gary Maguire’s reverse pass to Chris O’Brien set up his strike partner to confidently fire into the net for his second while the hat-trick goal was just moments away. Kevin Swift’s free kick dropped kindly in the area for O’Brien to thump into the net for 5-1.
The rout was complete late in the game, Gary Maguire firing in a stunning long range free kick. The partnership of Maguire and O’Brien which accounted for five of the six goals in this fixture came in for praise from Fred Lynch after the game “In Chris O’Brien and Gary Maguire we have two players that have 40 odd goals between them in all competitions this season and that is a massive help to any team.”