The Swinford junior team finally got off the mark with a great win over Ballina on Saturday evening.

It has been a tough campaign to date for this team but they showed wonderful character to overcome a Ballina team containing 4 or 5 of their 2005 Andy Merrigan cup winning team.

The conditions were perfect for fast flowing football and neither team disappointed with the emphasis on moving the ball quickly mixed in with lots of hard hitting around the middle.

Ballina started the strongest racing into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead but Swinford showed their mettle and a brilliant Tom Horkan goal brought the home team right back into contention. The teams were tied at half time and all was set for a rip-roaring second half.

Swinford made the better start and points from Tom Kavanagh and Darren Campbell put them into a two point lead. However, Ballina came straight back into the game and reeled off three points in a row to regain their earlier lead. Swinford weathered this particular storm and went up and scored three unanswered points of their own and eventually see out the game on a scoreline of Swinford 1-09, Ballina 0-10.

This was an excellent all round team performance all the way up from commanding goalkeeper Robert Hunter to corner forward Darren Campbell who was a real livewire for the home team. Manager Billy McNicholas was delighted with his teams performance and all involved are hoping this will be the turning point in the year for this team to start winning more games and to have a good run in the championship.

Full time score:
Swinford 1-09
Ballina 0-10

Team: Robert Hunter, John G Kelly, Brian Lavin, Fergal Harte, Mark McNicholas, Fintan Kenny, Kevin Barry, Tom Horkan, Barry Brennan, James Tully, Danny McNicholas, Gerry Callaghan, Tom Kavanagh, Vincent Roughneen, Darren Campbell. Subs, Philip Ryan, Fergal Loftus, Eoghan Kelly.