Despite a depleted squad of just 33, Enniskillen Lakelanders returned home successful from their Provincial Towns League meeting away to Lurgan on Saturday with the win seeing them round off their campaign with three wins from their five galas.

A number of team swimmers may have been absent but a strong squad with a fantastic team ethic made the 160-mile round trip with their new head coach Rob Eynon also travelling up.

With the usual format of Medley and Freestyle relays as well as five individual events there are four different age groups competing ranging from swimmers born in 2007 to 2001 and older.

From the start, it was obvious that the Lakelanders had the upper hand over their Lurgan counterparts, and in the end, ran out easy winners with the score of 594-547 in favour of Lakelanders not telling the real story on the night.

It was all level after the initial Medley relay event, the Lurgan score being helped by only three swimmers being available in the Girls Group C section, therefore handing Lurgan an eight point swing.

In gold position for the Lakelanders in the Backstroke were Isobel Lannon, Ellie McCartney and Niamh O’Kane - both of whom were unbeaten on the night across all their swims - and Kealan McShea while Maria Kelly Neill, Amy O’Reilly, Sorcha Lavelle, Patrick Williams, Jake Cadden and Oisin McManus all collected second place finishes and points for the team.

Ela Winters and Anna McDade in the girls Group A section touched home with new PB’s and a notable performance was seen in the oldest boys age group where Ben Lynch was swimming up and finished fastest of the Lakelanders boys on the night.

There was more dominance in the Breaststroke where the Lakelanders took 11 of the 16 first and second places available.

Annabel Morrison took gold in the Group A girls and alongside Anna McDade and Ela Winters dominated the youngest girls section while Ellie McCartney/Tara McKenzie, and Niamh O’Kane/Amy O’Reilly repeated the one two finish for the next two girls age groups. Sorcha Lavelle took first in the Group D girls.

Patrick Williams and Nial Bruce both put points on the board for the team in the Group A boys, Jake Cadden and Matthew Dolan also added points, Jake coming in with an excellent silver, and Oisin McManus and Lewis McCartney took an easy first and second place in the Group C boys.

Connor McKenzie and Jack Maravelakis finished the scoring for the Group D boys, which saw the Lakelanders lead increase to 260-236.

The Lakelanders dominated across the board in the Fly with impressive performances from Isobel, Annabel and Anna for the youngest girls, and Patrick and Nial for the boys.

Ellie and Tara took a first and second as did Niamh and Amy while Sorcha, Rachel Evans and Reagan Breen all added to the teams points on the night.

Jake piled on the pressure with another silver place finish and was supported in his section by points from Matthew and Darragh Cox, who is improving every time he takes to the water.

Point seven of a second separated the three Lakelanders group C boys with Oisin coming out on top over Lewis and Kealan McShea in the Butterfly.

Conor McKenzie was the best of the group D boys recording a time of 32.16 for the Fly, but was pushed all the way by Ben and Jack.

Into the Freestyle with a 32-point lead over the opposition, the Lakelanders didn’t ease off and came away with 10 of the 18 first or second places available.

Anna and Isobel and Cora Cassidy started the scoring while Patrick, Jamie Lannon and Frank Buchanan also added points to the board, Patrick collecting silver. Ellie, Tara and Maria Kelly Neill all added to the total while Jake took maximum in the free for the group B boys, helped by Matthew Dolan who also collected points. Niamh O’Kane and Meabh Dolan dominated the group C girls as did Kealan, Lewis and Josh Man who added maximum points for the Lakelanders. Rachel Evans took top position amongst the Lakelanders Group D girls in a time of 31.11 over the 50 free, just narrowly ahead of Sorcha and Reagan Breen. Connor McKenzie (swimming up) broke through the 28 second barrier to have a time of 27.96 recorded in the 50m free, putting him ahead of Jack and Paul Carron in a fantastic display of freestyle racing.

With two events to go, the IM and the Freestyle Relays, the Lakelanders were ahead by 44 points and cruising to victory.

Isobel, Anna, Patrick and Nial Bruce all put points on the board in the IM relay followed by Sophia Williams, Ellie and Tara in the Group B girls.

Jack Cadden took another second place finish to add to his overall points haul on the night of 46, helped by Jason Man and Matthew Dolan, both of whom swam PB’s.

Niamh and Meabh took a one-two as did Oisin and Lewis for the group C girls and boys. Sorcha, Rachel, Jack, Connor and Ben all added points.

The gala ended with eight heats of the Freestyle Relay, out of which notable swims from Cora Cassidy, Jamie Lannon, Sophia Williams, Darragh Cox, Jason Man, Josh Man, Caitlin Martin, Reagan Breen and Paul Carren all helped the Lakelanders to a comfortable victory on the night.

The Lakelanders finished the PTL Division 3 season with three wins out of five, and look forward to pressing on and making the step to PTL Division 2 under the guidance of new swim coach Rob next season, a target which will be easily achievable if the full squad is available for the five galas next season.

The MVS (Most Valuable Swimmer) award for the girls goes to Ellie McCartney who collected the maximum of 63 points for her seven first place finishes in the seven events she competed in, while in the boys the award goes to Oisin McManus for his haul of 54 points from six swims. The committee would like to thank sincerely the parents and volunteers who made the trip to Lurgan on Saturday for the team event, without whom these events just wouldn’t happen.