In round 3 of the Breaffy Resort Junior Championship we lost by 3-12 to 1-10 to Ballina on Saturday evening.

It was a game that we battled very hard in but could not stay with the home team. The loss of a number of players to the Intermediate team over the last few weeks took its toll.

We started off well an scored the first point of the game through JP Broderick but Ballina then took a hold on the game and scored 1-3 before JP added a second point. In between two points from Adrian Forkan Ballina also added two more to leave the score at the break 1-5 to 0-4.

We enjoyed a great start to the second half and within ten minutes were level with points from Jason McLoughlin, JP Broerick and two frees from Cillian O’Donnell.

Unfortunately Ballina then rattled off four points of their own to open up the gap once again but for the second time we came back again, this time with a goal from JP Broderick. Though Ballina came down the field and looked to have scored a point only for the referee to whistle for a penalty. The gap was back out to four again and despite working very hard we couldn’t get back into the game for a third time.

Points from Paul McDonagh and JP Broderick were counteracted with a further 1-3 from Ballina.

For the second year in a row we enter the relegation playoffs.

Swinford: Damien Geraghty, Aiden McLoughlin, Paul McDonagh, John Gerard Kelly, Sean Predergast, Kevin Barry, Andrew Lenehan, Michael Walsh, Stephen Walsh, Cillian O’Donnell, Mark McNicholas, Joshua Smith, Adrian Forkan, JP Broderick, Jason McLoughlin Subs: Gary Keane, Jonathan Moore

Scorers: 1-4, Adrian Forkan, Cillian O’Donnell 0-2, Jason McLoughlin, Paul McDonagh 0-1