Davitts Victorious In Season Opening Derby

The senior hurlers got their season off to the perfect start with victory over neighbours Slaughtneil in their league opener at Davitt Park. In a keenly contested game the home side’s ability to close down their opponents forward line, combined with accuracy from frees propelled the Davitts to victory.

The home side took the field with a depleted side, missing the injured defensive trio of Micky Conway, Malachy Scullin and Michael McKenna amongst others, but the makeshift backline coped admirably with the threat of the Emmett’s attack.

Swatragh played the first half with wind advantage but failed to make best use of the elements as they made a subdued start. Indeed had it not been for a superb last ditch tackle by Cathal McQuillan on the advancing Quigg, the away side could have chalked up an early goal. Slaughtneil opened the scoring with a pointed Aidy Quigg free and with clear-cut openings at a premium, scores were coming mainly from placed balls, broken up only by a couple of fine scores from play by Ruairi Convery.

With the scores remaining close as half time approached it looked as if the Davitts would be up against it in the second period.  However with the midway point approaching, rookie full forward Neil McAtamney won a ball in the square and lashed the ball home to leave the home side ahead 1-04 to 0-04 at the interval.

With the wind at their backs in the second half the Emmett’s made short work of reducing the Swatragh lead. Within ten minutes they had drawn level thanks to the free taking of the accurate Gareth O’Kane. Indeed they could also have notched a goal had it not been for a fine save by McFlynn and clearance by McFerran. The keeper suffered a nasty facial injury making the save, but amazingly returned after treatment to keep a clean sheet. Playing into an ever-stiffening breeze it looks as if the Davitts would go home empty handed, but with their backs to the wall the team galvanized themselves for a strong finish.

The home side upped its work rate considerably in this period, and some excellent tackling in the forward line forced the Slaughtneil defence into mistakes, punished by the ever-reliable Convery. Swatragh edged back in front and entered the final ten minutes with a re-established three point lead. With the home side’s defence coming under increasing pressure the half-forward foraged deep for possession to ease the work load on the back line.

In the closing stages the halfback line excelled, repelling numerous attacks, and held firm under the high ball. With time almost up the Emmett’s needed a goal to salvage a point, but in truth it never looked like coming and the Davitts held out for a deserved victory.

It was an encouraging opening for the home side, who will now look to build on this result in the fight for a Championship semi-final spot.

Final Score: Swatragh 1-10 Slaughtneil 0-10

Team & Scorers: Paul McFlynn, Cathal McQuillan, Seamus Bradley, Seamus McFerran, Seamus O’Kane, Conor Quinn, James McKeagney, Martin Quinn, Eugene McGuckin, Niall O’Doherty, Ruairi Convery 0-10 (0-07 frees), Michael Kirkpatrick, Dermot McNicholl, Neil McAtamney 1-00, Adrian Diamond
Subs: Declan McGuckin for Adrian Diamond; Paddy O’Kane for Niall O’Doherty.