On a lovely evening at Gilmartin Park, Kiltimagh while most of the county were watching the rugby final a good crowd gathered to see Swinford play Davitts in the Division 3 County Final.
When the two teams met earlier in the league we came out on top by 5 points on our visit to Ballindine. Today we went one point better and won 6 but the game was in the balance for the last ten minutes before it was sealed in the closing minutes on a final score of Swinford 4-9 Davitts 2-9.
We started off very well with a fine point by Conor Ferguson in the first minute but then Davitts took control and scored the next five points including a great 45, two frees and two more from play.
A goal by Neven Grufferty relieved the pressure on us. Only Neven can know for sure whether he meant it but it was a great finish all the same. A point from Sean Walsh had us level midway through the first half.
Davitts replied with two points but then in the closing stages of the half we scored two goals, first from Conor Ferguson and quickly followed by Conor Forkan. From that stage we never lost the lead for the remainder of the game.
At half time we led by 3-2 to 0-7. It should have been a better lead save for some poor finishing when within shooting range.
We started the second half very strong with points from Matthew Lavin, a free from Nathan McNicholas and two more from Matthew Lavin. One of then coming from a great run up the field by our Captain Martin Murphy.
It was midway through the half before Davitts scored their first point of the half and they soon added a goal before Matthew Lavin scored a free for his fourth point of the half.
With just over ten minutes left Davitts got on top of the game and in the next five minutes they scored 1-1 to leave only a point between the teams and still time on the clock.
There was a few hairy moments but they were well defended by our defence and first a point by Matthew Lavin and then a very well taken goal by Matthew to put the game beyond Davitts. Neven Grufferty added another point to complete the win and give the lads the County title.
Full credit to both set of players for a fine game of football. Great thanks goes to John Dunne and his assistants Mark McNicholas, Shane Campbell and John Sheehan for all the work put in during the year. All this work is reflected in how this team has developed over the year.
Swinford: Cian Campbell, Darragh Pidgeon, Darren Geraghty, Ryan Lavin, Conor Forkan, Niall McNulty, Nathan McNicholas, Shane Cronnolly, Neven Grufferty, Matthew Lavin, Martin Murphy, Conor Ferguson, Sean Walsh. Subs Diarmuid Breen
Scorers: Matthew Lavin 1-5, Conor Ferguson 1-1, Neven Grufferty 1-1, Conor Forkan 1-0, Sean Walsh, Nathan McNicholas 0-1
Thanks to Mary Murphy for the pictures.
