Saturday was a day to forget for the Swifts but the big winners were Team Daniel. Both sides donated their match fees to Team Daniel to help support nine month old Daniel Shaw, who is suffering from Neuroblastoma, a form of cancer which is difficult to treat. Everyone at Saintfield sends their support to young Daniel and the Shaw family.
Now to the football and it was a day where everything that could have gone wrong, did. At the start of the day the Saints had two subs but with the keeper having to pull out early on Saturday the Saints were down to one sub and Jack Armstrong thankfully volunteered to take the spot between the posts. Despite numerous changes and a depleted squad the Swifts were optimistic of coming away with a result. Chances for both sides came early but Ballyhalbert struck first in the 20th minute. The Saints day was made worse when they were forced into making their only sub in the 30th minute when LorcAn twisted his back and was able to continue. This saw young Jack Kelly come on after already playing a youth game in the morning. Going into the half at 1-0 the Saints were still optimistic to get something from the game.
The second half was a different story to the first with the Ballyhalbert side striking three times in 10 minutes to go 4-0 up before the hour mark. The Swifts pulled a goal back with a penalty converted by Curtis McClements on his second debut after a Saints attacker was brought down in the box by the keeper. The Saints had the opportunity to pull it back to 4-2 when pressure from McClements forced the keeper into giving away the ball but McClemnts could only hit the bar. The chances kept flowing for the Swifts but the wind was well and truly out of the sails when the Saints had to go down to 10 men for the last twenty minutes when one of their players had to go to an appointment. Ballyhalbert went on to score two more goals before the final whistle in a result which probably flattered Ballyhalbert even though they deserved the win. A disappointing result but a brilliant performance from young Jack Kelly and a great debut in adult football for Joshua Johnston made the trip somewhat worth it.