World Footy News

The South Dublin Swans have won the the SMAT’s.com super 9’s ARFLI preseason competition for 2010. The tournament was part of the inaugural Dublin ANZAC sports carnival and saw seven Irish club sides joined by the Aberdeen Dingoes (Scotland) and from London, the Irish Exiles. The nine sides were drawn into three pools with the pools winners advancing through to a round robin final.

Pool one proved to be the group of death with the unknown factor of the Dingoes winning the first game against the Swans by a single point, 4.1 to 3.6. The Swans improved their goal kicking in the next game by comfortable accounting for the Belfast Redbacks 7.1 to 2.2. The margin of victory proved crucial as the Redbacks beat the Dingoes in the concluding game. With all three teams finishing with one win each the Swans progressed on point’s difference ahead of the Redbacks in second and the unlucky Dingoes in third.

The Dublin Demons entered group two as tournament favourites having won the 2008 and 2009 ARFLI Premierships as well as winning the recent Haggis cup 9-a-side tournament in Glasgow. However due to injuries and absentees, a severely weakened Demons side lost both their games to the Leeside Lions and the Irish Exiles in pool two. The Exiles are made up of Irish players who play for English clubs and were using this event as a chance to stake a claim for selection in the Irish national side. They narrowly lost to the Lions to finish second in the pool.

Pool three proved to be the weakest in the competition with the Mullingar Tigers also being hit by injuries and other commitments, losing their two matches. This should not take away from the achievements of brand new club the Midwest Magpies. Despite only training since March the Galway side won their first ever competitive match by two goals against the Tigers. The West Dublin Saints’ win against the Tigers set up a winner takes all show down against the Magpies. In a game where the lead changed hands often the Saints eventually prevailed by just two points to advance to the Cup final.

At this stage the finals pools were decided with the Lions, Swans & Saints going into the Cup Pool; the Redbacks, Exiles and Magpies into the Plate Pool; and the Demons, Dingoes and Tigers into the Bowl Pool. The Pool 1 sides dominated the finals with Belfast comfortable winning the Plate and the Dingoes fully deserved of their triumph in the Bowl.

In the Cup final pool the Lions and Swans set up a de-facto grand final by both beating the Saints. The Swans were really hitting their stride by now and overpowered a tiring but committed Saints outfit to win by a massive 9.8 t0 0.2. The two grand finalists have history. Many times in the past they have met at the business end of tournaments with the Lions acting as a nemesis to the Swans. This looked like it might continue with the Lions taking an early lead but the Swans powered back in a physical encounter to take the trophy by 6.4 to 3.2.

The Swans stars of the day included their duel giants in the ruck Paul O’Halloran and Shane Thomas. Ryan ‘the Rhino’ Serocki was named best on ground for the day but it was their many new recruits that also impressed throughout. Australia ambassador to Ireland, Bruce Davis was on hand to present the trophy to Swans coach David Scott and captain Macca. Belfast’s Daire Ó hAodhagáin was awarded the golden boot award for leading goal kicker of the day.

The inaugural Dublin Anzac Sports Carnival & the http://Smats.net Super 9s 2010 proved to be one of the biggest successes in the history of the ARFLI. It showed that with two clubs joining the premiership this year, (Belfast Redbacks and the Midwest Magpies) that this year will be the biggest and most competitive league the country has seen.