The sun may have been in attendance on Sunday evening at Billy Doran Park but lady luck failed to turn up as the seniors suffered their first league defeat of the season at the hands of Swatragh.

The visitors got off to a blistering start, scoring six points for no reply. Sixteen minutes would pass before Drumsurn registered their first point of the game.

Drumsurn struggled the entire first half to come to terms with the large Swatragh midfield pairing of Friel and Convery. For all of the visitor’s possession they only lead by four points going in at the break 1-3 to 0-10.

The midfield unbalance was addressed at half time when Cahir Mullan was brought out of full back. This tactic seemed to work for Drumsurn as they drew level with Swatragh seven minutes into the second half courtesy of a goal from Pierce McNickle.

Over the next ten minutes Swatragh dominated and re-established a lead of three points. In this period Dominic Woods introduced the experienced Micky Coll and Colm Feeney to help steady the ship, again this tactic seemed to work.

A high ball into the Swatragh box was fielded well by Martin Mullan and with a swivel of his hips he broke free of his marker to unleash a rasping shot only to see the keeper palm it over the bar for a point. This had goal written all over it. Ciaran Mullan then reduced the difference between the teams to a single point.

With ten minutes to play Swatragh were reduced to fourteen men as Ruari Convery was issued with a straight red card for punching the on-form Martin Mullan.

Things were looking up for Drumsurn and playing with the wind they seemed to have Swatragh on the back foot. However the visitors operating with fourteen men re-established a three point lead which they never relequinsished.

Drumsurn never scored in the last ten minutes of the game, however Swatragh have their goalkeeper to thank for a double save late in the game. Had Paul Butcher found the net with the initial shot or Pierce McNickle with the follow up shot the visitors were dead and buried?

Had Drumsurn come away with a draw or victory the large crowd would have been greatly surprised, but well pleased.

Our final pass out of defence was very poor and invited constant pressure from the large Swatragh team. Also, our inability to win possession in and around the middle of the park cost us dearly, but I put this down to the size of the two big men Swatragh had in the middle of the park. One point from play in each half wasn’t typical of Drumsurn, but that’s what they scored on Sunday.

The highlight was our dogged desire not to give up which will stand us in good stead for the next match.

Onwards and upwards, this is going to be a very tight league this year and I think Swatragh will be in and amongst us for the next couple of seasons.

Two big talking points of the game were 1) Why did Marty Plump Mullan pick a fight with the giant Convery and 2) Do we credit the first half goal to Marty Mullan or does it go down as an OG?

Discuss ……

Team:Stephen Harbinson, Dane Mullan, Cahir Mullan, Michael Archibald; Craig Chewing, Shane Moore, Christopher Harbinson; Ronan McNickle, Ryan Mullan; Cathair Friel, Ciaran Mullan (0-05, 0-4F), Matt Ferris; Martin Mullan (1-0), Pierce McNickle (1-0), Paul Butcher

Subs:Micky Coll for Ronan McNickle (40 min), Colm Feeney for Shane Moore (56 mins)