Fintona Swifts 5 Fivemiletown II 0 Fintona Swifts will play their football in division two next season after securing the division three championship with a 5-0 win over Fivemiletown Seconds. Last season the club were forced to pull out of the league but following their return they have secured promotion at their first attempt with only one league defeat all season, which is more than manger Seamus McCarron had expected at the start of the campaign.

“The main aim for the season was to get the club going again and get re-established, and anything after that was a bonus,” admitted the manager. “We got a few bad beatings in the pre-season. It wasn’t all plain sailing and it could have gone the other way but a few of the older lads then decided to came back on board and that steadied the ship. We started the season well and put together a couple of half decent results and then pushed on from there. After about four or five games of the season we saw that results were starting to go well and then we realised that we were on a par with the rest of the teams and promotion might be possible.”

A defeat to Ardstraw was the sole blemish on Swifts’ league record, with their title confirmed with two games to spare. Their championship winning victory over a weakened Fivemiletown team started with a Chris Hamilton goal after 15 minutes. Chris Hamilton and Ryan Cunningham were causing problems throughout the game and they combined after 25 minutes to tee up Cathal Moore for their team’s second goal.

The best goal of the game came before half time when a long clearance from Barry Cunningham was flicked on by Mark Kelly, and Ryan Cunningham took one touch before lashing in a volley from 40 yards out. Cunningham grabbed another goal in the second half when he drifted around three defenders before rounding the keeper and slotting the ball into the empty net, with Seamus Carney completing the victory.

Swifts will now be looking to establish themselves as a contender in division two, but Seamus McCarron admits they will have to hold on to their most influential players. “I would say it will be a big step up for us,” he acknowledged. “We will need a few of the older heads to stay on, because if we lose them it could be a fight to stay up. Hopefully they will give it a season so we can get ourselves established.”