Daniel hits Swifts with quick fire treble

27 September 2017

ARDGLASS’ explosive opening gambit mercilessly shot down the Swifts at St Nicholas’ on Saturday.

Karl O’Neill opened the scoring in the first minute before Daniel Maginn took centre stage. The wily playmaker produced a goal scoring master class and netted a hat-trick inside a manic 10 minute spell, including two in two minutes, to give Ardglass a 4-0 lead by the 21st minute.

The Swifts tightened up considerably after this and it wasn’t until the 77th minute that Ardglass were able to score again through Philip Sutcliffe and make it 5-0.

Ardglass may no longer have any marquee players in their line-up, but manager Leo Kearney has a bunch of honest, hard-working players that are starting to gel and Saturday’s win was their second on the bounce, but their first in the league.

The Swifts are also a side in transition, but they have Davy Teggarty in charge and that means they will always be competitive, well-organised and disciplined.

However, it didn’t look like that in the early stages as Ardglass ran riot. There was less than a minute gone when Malachy Crangle and John Beattie combined to release Kark O’Neill and he raced away to beat Michael Vladeanu with a tidy finish.

The Swifts settled somewhat after this with the combative Paul King taking control, but the visitors were rocked to the core in the 10th minute when the diminutive Maginn swooped to head in a Christian O’Connor corner and make it 2-0.

It was 3-0 nine minutes later when the predatory Maginn struck again after some poor defending and the same player converted from the spot in the 21st minute after O’Connor had been brought down.

Fair play to a shell-shocked Swifts, who were able to put a whin bush in the gap and close up shop for the remainder of the half. They even managed to create a few chances of their own, the best falling to Ben Onuoha, but he fired a volley over the top from just outside the box.

Ardglass should have increased their lead in the first minute of the second half when Maginn played in O’Neill, but after rounding the ‘keeper, the ball bobbled up and he stabbed the ball wide of an empty net.

The Swifts started to become a lot more involved in the middle of the park with Craig Tate and Adam Beattie ruling the roost, but Ardglass remained dangerous on the break with Maginn and O’Neill a constant menace.

Chances came and went at both ends before Sutcliffe put the icing on the cake for Ardglass with a fifth goal after O’Neill had carved out the opening.

Michael Clarke and Marty Halpin both went lose to increasing Ardglass’ winning margin.

But that would have been harsh on a game Swifts side.

Ardglass: H McConkey, M Clarke, M Halpin, M Crangle, M McConville, J Beattie, C O’Connor, S P Halpin, K O’Neill, D Maginn, S Teggart. Subs: R O’Connor, P Sutcliffe, J Thompson.

Ballynahinch United Swifts: M Vladeanu, S Neill, S Bonner, P King, D Fitzpatrick, A Beattie, S Kinnear, M Hanley, G McMullan, C Tate, B Onuoha. Subs: G Farquhar, J Malcolmson, J McKibben.

Ardgass 5

Ballynahinch Swifts 0

NEWCASTLE LEAGUE DIV 1

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