Swinford faced into their fourth League game on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon at Robert McCallion Memorial Park looking for the first win of the season against 2016 Junior Champions Louisburgh.
Swinford playing with the wind opened the scoring after two minutes with a point from the boot of Liam Moran. A few minutes Liam Moran dropped a free into the danger area and the ball was toepoked into the net by Kevin McShea.
Louisburgh went straight down the field and opened their account with a point. In the following ten minutes Louisburgh put over three frees to level the game. Both teams struggled in front of the posts with a number of wides each.
Michael Prendergast put Swinford back in front before Louisburgh leveled the game. Points form Jason McLoughlin and Liam Moran put Swinford two ahead but Louisburgh put two over before the break to leave the teams level at 1-4 to 0-7.
Louisburgh now playing with the wind started the second half very strong and scored the two opening points. Thankfully they did not have their scoring boots with them and missed a number of chances to extend their lead even further. This was very much down to strong Swinford defensive work.
It took to the 21st minute of the half before Swinford got a point from James Sweeney. With six minutes remaining Liam Moran knocked over a free to level the game. Louisburgh had a number of chances to regain the lead but put them all wide.
Deep into injury time Liam Moran got a free that he duly converted to give Swinford the lead. Louisburgh threw everything at the last attack and earned a 45 after a great block by James Sweeney. The ball dropped short an Swinford had their first win of the season. Final score Swinford 1-7 Louisburgh 0-9
It was a tremendous performance against a very good Louisburgh team and the players showed great fight and determination not to let this one slip away. The victory was based on huge defensive and the ability to take most of the chances that came our way.
Swinford: Ryan Convey, Aiden McLoughlin, Sean Brady, Alan McLoughlin, James Lavin, Mark McNicholas, Joshua Smith, Michael Walsh, Kevin Barry, James Sweeney, Johnny Burke, Liam Moran, Jason McLoughlin, Kevin McShea, Michael Prendergast Subs Joe Kelly, Damien Geraghty, Kevin McDonagh
Scorers: Liam Moran 0-4, Kevin McShea 1-0, Michael Prendergast, Jason McLoughlin, James Sweeney 0-1
