The South Dublin Swans got their season back on track with a superb all round display to defeat the reigning premiers, the Dublin Demons, by the huge score of 17.23 (125)- 0.6 (6). Although the Demons were severely weakened by missing many of their top players it was without doubt the Swans’ best performance of the year and makes up for the disappointment of losing their last two games. 

The first quarter started with the Swans roaring out of the traps. All the players answered the call to raise the physicality and the intensity of effort and the result was that we were wining all the contested ball. Rhino, playing in his first match as a father, was brilliant, barging through the tackles and with Paul dominating the ruck as always the forward line was getting a constant stream of good ball. Crazy Martin, relishing his new role in the forward line kicked the first goal as we started to make our dominance tell on the score board. Further goals form Bryce, Rambo and Jase in only his second game saw us go into the break with a good lead, 4.5(29)- 0.2(2). 

The Swans continued the second quarter as we had begun, playing man on man and giving the opposition no time on the ball. Tackles were coming from everywhere with Martin X, Jimmy the lips and Tuffy all excelling. Although our kicking wasn’t as accurate as it could have been we stretched our lead again with goals from Bryce, Eddie and a long range effort from Rhino. 7.12(54) - 0.3(3). 

The talk at half time was not to be complacent and to keep the pressure on. The lads responded brilliantly and as the Demons began to tire with no replacement bench the scores came regularly. A whopping 7 goals in the quarter saw us go out of sight with Martin, Jase, Bryce adding to their earlier scores with further scores from Eddie and Macca with his trade mark goals from the back line. The back line put in a tremendous effort to keep a clean sheet with Lester and Chad to the fore. 14.15(99)- 0.3(3). 

With the game all but won we made a few changes for the final quarter with Macca and Lewis moving forward and Rambo coming in for Paul in the ruck. Bryce and Macca continued their personal duel for top goal kicker with 5 and 3 respectively. Martin was on fire getting the goal of the game when he played on from a mark to goal from a tight angle. We were desperate not a concede a goal all day but the Demons looked to be in for a sure thing until GHD Simon produced the tackle of the day to bring down his man and win a free kick. A great team win and as has been the case all season the Irish/ Australian ratio was healthy with only 7 Aussies lining out in contrast to 10 Irish, 1 Scot and 1 Frenchman. The score finished 17(23)- 0.6(6). 

Overall it was an excellent performance from the lads and exactly what we needed to get our season back on track. Credit must go to the Demons as they put in a great effort till the end despite missing up to 12 players for various reasons. The game was played in a great spirit throughout and the Demons keep going hard but fair till the end. A big thank you to Sinbad for umpiring. 

After the match Rhino put on a champion BBQ that was enjoyed by both teams. We then had our fund raising prize draw that saw the 500 Euro won by Jase’s mum. The most competitive game all day was the coin rolling which saw Sinbad win the bottle of whiskey with great skill. A great day all round that went late into the night that bodes well for the rest of the season. 

South Dublin Swans 4.5, 7.12, 14.15, 17.23 (125)
Dublin Demons 0.2, 0.3, 0.3, 0.6 (6)

Goal kickers
Martin 2
Jase 3
Bryce 5
Rambo 2
Eddie 1
Rhino 1
Macca 3