Its been a long ten months since we met Bonniconlon in the league and all the drama that followed from that game but since the championship draw was made this game has been eagerly waited by the Swinford camp.
There was a very good crowd at Robert McCallion Memorial Pitch on a lovely Saturday afternoon for the clash. Bonniconlon got off to a great start with a goal in the first minute after a mix up in the Swinford defence. They followed up with two points and we found ourselves 5 down inside 5 minutes.
Jason McLoughlin opened our account with a free after five mins that was cancelled out by a Bonniconlon point. Heads didn’t drop and points from Jack McDonnell, Liam Moran and Jason McLoughlin had us right back in the game after a quarter of an hour.
The Bonniconlon full forward line were causing all sorts of trouble for our full back line as our midfield struggled to hold on to the ball and Bonniconlon added two more points. Frees from Jason McLoughlin and Liam Moran and a point from play by Liam Moran brought the difference back to a point but Bonniconlon opened up the gap to four with three unanswered points.
Then Swinford got what they badly needed before the break with a goal by James Devaney to leave only 1 between the teams at the interval.
Swinford not playing well and losing Kevin McShea to injury and Mark Forkan struggling with an injury were right in the mix.
Swinford started the second half very well but rushed a couple of shots resulting in five wides while Bonniconlon added two points. Swinford got a point back but Bonniconlon cancelled this out so with 15 minutes left there was three between the teams.
Liam Moran added to his tally with a free before he got the score of the game with a very calculated lob over the Bonniconlon goalie from a tight angle to put the ball in the net and Swinford were ahead for the first time in the game with eight minutes of regulation time left.
At this stage Bonniconlon players were dropping while Swinford found a renewal of energy. Liam Moran added another point to bring the gap out to two. Bonniconlon pulled one back before Jack McDonnell and Jason McLoughlin added further points and with time up Swinford led by three. Disaster nearly struck in the third minute of injury time when Bonniconlon got a free but with the goal line fully packed all they could do was put it over the bar.
The final whistle went and the score was Swinford 2-11 Bonniconlon 1-13.
The big difference in the second half was the winning of the midfield battle with a gigantic half by Johnny Burke. The six forwards worked tremendous hard and ran the Bonniconlon defence into the ground while the defence was tight to a man.
Swinford not at their best but well deserved their victory and now have two wins from two in the championship and are well placed for a quarter final place.
Swinford: Aaron Kinsella, Aidan McLoughlin, Alan McLoughlin, james Lavin, Conor Conway, Mark Forkan, Mark McNicholas, Jihnny Burke, Mick Walsh, Joshua Smith, Kevin McShea, Liam Moran, Jason McLoughlin, Darren Campbell, James Devaney Subs Jack McDonnell, Fergal Harte, Tom Horkan,
