It was a marvellous afternoon in Mourneview for the Swifts as they defeated Glenavon to secure their first points of the season.
Rodney McAree made four changes to the side that was defeated 2-1 in Bangor last Saturday. Leo Alves, Thomas Maguire, Gaël Bigirimana and new signing Junior all came in, replacing Cahal McGinty, Andrew Mitchell, Tomás Galvin and Sean McAllister.
The Swifts earned the first chance of the game when they won a free kick just outside the area. Leo Alves supplied Steven Scott and the right-back sent a low, driven ball into the box, which was cleared by the home defence. In the process, Glenavon’s Kyle McClelland went down holding his shoulder, and was eventually forced off, with former Swifts player Kris Lowe replacing him.
Eleven minutes in, Glenavon would create the best chance of the game so far. Ben Wilson crossed the ball from the right, finding David McDaid on the edge of the box, whose shot went just past the post.
On 13 minutes, the away side were given a free kick after Glenavon defender Harry Murphy pulled back Junior’s jersey, earning him a yellow card.
Junior then prevented the ball from going over the goal-line with an acrobatic back flick, allowing Scott to cross the ball to Thomas Maguire, who expertly guided a looping shot over the Glenavon goalkeeper, making it 1-0 to the Swifts.
After the game, Rodney spoke highly about the goalscorer: “Tom’s attitude is absolutely top drawer, he’s a great kid, he’s got himself fitter than he’s ever been in my opinion. He’s waited for his opportunity, he probably gets frustrated at times, and he doesn’t score enough, he’ll admit that himself, and he’s desperate to score goals, so for him to get his season up and going, and score a goal, and get us off to a good start, it’s a credit to him and it’s great to see.”
Ten minutes later, things would go from bad to worse for the home side. Maguire, raiding down the left wing, was running towards goal when he was tripped by Murphy and without hesitation, the referee handed a second yellow to the Glenavon defender, putting them down to 10 men.
The Swifts continued to keep their foot on the gas , hitting the post from one cross, while Adam Glenny created two chances in a short space of time, the first being a shot from just outside the area that drifted past the far post, and the second bringing an excellent save from the left of the penalty spot.
All this came before what would turn out to be the deciding moment of the game. The side in yellow earned a free kick thirty yards from goal, which Kealan Dillon and Leo Alves stood over. It would be the Westmeath man who would take the free and it was a peach of a hit, fired over the wall and into the corner of the net to the despairing keeper’s right.
It would be the home side, now 2-0 down, who started the second half the brighter, earning a free kick five minutes in which came to nothing.
But the Swifts then grew into the half, earning a free kick which Leo Alves put over the crossbar, as well as several half chances.
Then, sixty-eight minutes in, the game was effectively over as a contest. The away team earned another free kick, with Barney McKeown booked for his challenge. As Glenavon players objected, McKeown began clapping referee Jamie Robinson and was shown a second yellow for dissent, bringing his team down to nine men, with a yellow also shown to the Glenavon bench for their protests.
The Swifts continued to create chances in the last twenty minutes through substitutes Bobby-Jack McAleese, Sean McAllister and Andrew Mitchell, but were unable to add a third goal.
After only two minutes of additional time, the full-time whistle was blown and Rodney McAree’s men had three precious points to take up the motorway.
He said it felt great to finally get off the mark after five successive defeats, lifting the team from the foot of the table.
“Listen, it’s been a long time coming. We’ve had the start we didn’t want, and we’ve come to a ground that, I think there was a stat that came out yesterday, we hadn’t won in fourteen games.
“I thought we started the game very well – I thought we were the better side with 11 v 11. From Glenavon’s point of view it’s disappointing they’ve a man sent off in Harry, but probably we got into good areas and we put people under pressure, and with starting the game well, we find ourselves going 1-0 up, which is great, then we go 2-0 up with a great free kick from Kealan.
“We can be a little bit picky and we can talk about the second half not being good enough, and we should do better, and we need to create more, we need to do more.
“There’s a lot of nerves probably within the group as well, even though you’re playing against nine men. There was a wee bit of a reluctance in terms of going forward and leaving ourselves open and listen, after the start that we’ve had, losing the five in a row, it’s nice to get a 2-0 win and leave here with three points.”
Glenavon: Carney, Murphy, McKeown (C), McDaid (McGovern 59’), O’Kane, McClelland (Lowe 6’), Lomboto (Smith 59’), Wilson, Kee (Malone 30’), O’Connor (Carlin 45’), Quinn.
Unused Substitutes: Byrne (GK), Bosakani.
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne (GK), Scott, Marron, Kelly, Dillon (Smith 70’), Alves (Mitchell 75’), Glenny, T. Maguire (McAllister 65’), Wallace, Bigirimana (C) (McAleese 70’), Junior (Galvin 75’).
Unused Substitutes: Henderson (GK), McGinty.
Up next for the Swifts is another big game against tenth place Crusaders next Saturday in Stangmore Park, kick-off 3pm. Up the Swifts!
