Well it’s a huge weekend coming up for the club, kicking off on Saturday evening when the Swinford intermediate team take on their fierce rivals from the last few years, Ballyhaunis.
The last time these two sides met was up in Ballyhaunis last year for what was effectively a play off to see who would finish second in Division 1C of the league. Ballyhaunis ran out winners on that occasion but Swinford will be hoping to make amends Saturday night in what is a crucial fixture for both teams.
If Ballyhaunis win, it will mean they will go into a final day showdown with Kiltimagh to see who will qualify for the quarter finals, loose and they may well be facing a relegation playoff. For Swinford, a win would almost certainly guarantee them a place in the quarter finals and a loss would see them facing off against Parke in the final round desperate for a victory.
A snapshot of the table shows how tight matters are after just one game each.
Swinford will look to their normal sources for inspiration in this game. Stalwarts like Joe Kelly, Eoin Gallagher and Paul McDonagh will have to lead by example and the younger brigade of Jayo Carney and Colin Dempsey will have to play out of their skins to get a win. Swinford were dealt a huge blow with the loss of Barry McShea to Boston and Jack McDonnell to Chicago for the summer but they will hope these two stand out players will be around to play a part later in the year.
Please try to make it out to support your local team this Saturday evening as team manager Paul Cunney and his selectors Brian Galvin, Adrian Forkan and Paddy Cunney try to make a bold statement in their first year of management. They and the players deserve our support for the fantastic effort they are making this year.
After the game it’s on to Franks Place in Killasser for refreshments and the club draw (and plenty of talk about the game). The club is delighted to have been invited by the Heaney family down to Killasser to host the club draw. Killasser have provided many of Swinford’s finest players over the years and it is only fitting that we should hold an important club event like this here.
The club draw is a confined draw and it takes the following format. A ticket purchaser will be entitled to the following…
- Membership of Swinford GAA club for 2012
- Entry in to the Mayo County Board draw which has prizes of cars and large cash payouts
- Entry into the Swinford Club draw which pays out annual prizes of €15,000
The payout on Saturday night will be 6 x €1,000 prizes so there will be plenty people going home from Killasser happy on Saturday night. The cost of the club draw ticket is €300 and every penny raised from the draw has been put back into the club to help improve our facilities most notably the Robert McCallion Memorial Pitch that we are so proud of.
We as a club are extremely grateful to all those who have purchased tickets so far and it’s still not to late if you want to enter into the draw. We have a number of people available that would like to go halves on a ticket so if you think you would be more comfortable going this route why not contact a club official and we would be delighted to get you involved in the progression of the club.
Finally, many congratulations to the clubs U-14 team and management who have been the star performers in the underage section of the club this year. We wish them well in their championship endeavours over the next few weeks so keep an eye on the website for those match reports.