Double delight as Mountjoy United register cup win and gain promotion

SATURDAY was a good day for Mountjoy United Football Club. Not only did the Lisnagirr Road outfit book their place in their second round of the Mulhern Cup with a convincing victory at Maguiresbridge but David Rennie’s team also secured promotion back to the top flight of the Fermanagh and Western League.

Maguiresbridge1 Mountjoy United 5

Derrychara United’s 3-0 victory over Fintona Swifts meant United were duly promoted along with Derrychara and in terms of the league all that is left to be decided is which of the top two teams will go up as champions.

Mountjoy have two games left to play against Enniskillen Galaxy and Derrychara – win both and they will be crowned champions. A draw in that final game will be suffice for Derrychara to lift the Enda Love Memorial Cup.

“We are delighted to get over the line. We slipped up against Fintona a couple of weeks ago but we knew everything was still in our own hands and the reality was we could still go up without kicking another ball given Fintona were playing Derrychara in their final game,” said Mountjoy boss Rennie.

“It was a good feeling on Saturday getting into the nerxt round of the cup and knowing that we gained promotion with two games to spare.

“Ultimately promotion was the objective from the start of the season once we assembled a squad which we thought was competitive.

“My experience is that Division Two is notoriously difficult to get out of and all the teams, top to bottom, can beat each other on their day. That again proved to be the case this year.

“We’re delighted and for me personally is great to get them back up to the first division at the first attempt. This is where I believe the club deserves to be.

“Winning the title would be the icing on the cake, there is no greater incentive. We have two cup finals left, we have Galaxy to play and Derrychara have to come to us. It could be a winner-takes-all between ourselves and Derrychara but we can’t look past the Galaxy game because we have to win it to set ourselves up.”

Saturday’s cup-tie was played in very testing conditions and despite facing the elements it was Mountjoy who took the lead when Dale Robinson sent Michael Reid clear to round the home net-minder.

But by the interval the Bridge were back on terms. The visitors struggled to clear a corner kick and when the ball dropped Adam Chartres swooped to level.

In truth, that was as good as it got for the home side. With the wind at their back United took control after Reid scored a second. This time Stephen Montgomery was the provider and the attacker charged through one-on-one to slot home.

Thereafter the visitors went for the jugular. William Donaghy tapped home the third after good play by Robinson and Lee Frazer, who squared the ball for the midfielder to add the final touch..

At that point Rennie introduced some fresh blood and Jake Dinsmore ushered Tom Cowan in on the left to rifle home before Frazer wrapped up the scoring with a fifth. Following an attack on the right, Jack Swan whipped over a low cross which Donaghy stepped over, leaving Frazer to apply the finish.

“Maguiresbridge scored five minutes before the interval to square the tie but we weren’t panicking,” continued Rennie.

“We knew we had the wind behind us in the second half and thankfully things fell into place to register a comfortable victory.”