Swatragh 1-06 Slaughtneil 2-07

Swatragh’s U-14 hurlers came up agonisingly short in the U-14 hurling final played at Lavey on Saturday. The Davitts went in to the game as massive underdogs against a Slaughtneil side that had swept all before them throughout the season.

The first half of the match was very evenly contested with both sides exchanging points, before Slaughtneil grabbed a goal to give them a slender advantage. However Swatragh started to dominate and grabbed a point to narrow the margin. With half time approaching Dominic McGuckin picked up a ball on the left and cut inside to feed Ruairi McGurk who fired to the net to give the Davitts the lead at half time.

For the most of the second half Swatragh kept their noses in front and had a couple of chances to further extend their lead. They were to rue these misses as the Emmetts grabbed a second goal to retake the lead and held on to the final whistle despite some intense Swatragh pressure.

There were great performances all over the pitch for Swatragh, with Oran McFlynn and Cathal Bradley excelling in defence, Warnock and Kearney tireless in midfield and Dominic McGuckin a livewire up front.

The match was a credit to both sides, with some tremendous hurling and both sets of mentors deserve great praise for producing two well drilled and highly skilled sides.

Swatragh will be disappointed at having fallen at the final hurdle but they can look back with pride on a tremendous season and look forward to next season with confidence.