BURT SEALED THEIR fifth successive County Senior Hurling Championship with a narrow win over Sean MacCumhaill’s this afternoon.
Burt 2-7Â MacCumhaill’s 0-12
Ray Durack’s side had too much for the Twin Towns outfit at O’Donnell Park and have continued their dominance of the local hurling scene, but that said, they were made sweat with Ciaran Mathewson and Lee Henderson in particular keeping the underdogs in touch till the bitter end.
In a repeat of last year’s decider, which Burt won 6-9 to 1-9, the side from Hibernian Park found their range after posting five successive wides to begin with. However, by half-time Burt were certainly value for their six-point, 2-3 to 0-3, lead.
Ronan McDermott was treble-marked by John O’Brien and Eamonn McAuley’s side but was still a considerable thorn in their side.
With Burt 0-2 to 0-1 up on 13 minutes, Niall Campbell’s short 65 was planted into the square by Mickey McCann and McDermott won the aerial ball and pierced a shot past Dylan Laverty in the MacCumhaill’s goal.
Then, just two minutes later, Gavin McGrath grabbed a second Burt goal when he got the better of Laverty with a trickling shot that just about made it over the goalline to establish a 2-2 to 0-1 advantage.
MacCumhaill’s started marginally the better but in that spell when Burt were initially misfiring, could only manage a single point from Henderson.
Marty McGrath made an excellent interception from a centre from Martin O’Reilly looked to be setting up a great chance for Paddy Hannigan.
Paul Burns, the Burt goalkeeper, also made a fine stop of deny Mathewson, although it’s worth noting those two goal chances for MacCumhaill’s came inside of eight minutes. Ciaran Dowds, the Burt full-back, hit a speculative effort for a point at the end of the half and saw it rebound off the crossbar.
After the break, MacCumhaill’s were forced to put wing-forward David White in goal to replace the injured goalkeeper Laverty.
That didn’t deter MacCumhaill’s though, as they scored the first four points of the second half – three of them from Mathewson and one from Henderson – to take their arrears down to two, 2-3 to 0-7 behind.
Burt took a while to shake off the half-time cobwebs but soon found their higher gears, with three Niall Campbell scored and one from Stephen Boyle puffing up their cushion.
Again, though, MacCumhaill’s response was commendable with another couple of Mathewson points and two from Henderson meaning they were just a point down as injury time got underway.
That’s as close as it would get as Burt’s defensive solidity took them over the line. They’ve shown down the years they know how to get through these types of encounter and they showed it again today.
Ciaran Mathewson of Sean MacCumhaill’s breaks away from a challenge from Ciaran Dowds of Burt in this afternoon’s County Senior Hurling final in Letterkenny. Photo: Chris Doherty
Burt: Paul Burns; Marty McGrath, Ciaran Dowds, Dara Grant; Johnny Downey, Joe Boyle, Christopher McDermott; Padraig Doherty, Conor Harkin; Ronan McDermott (1-0), Gavin McGrath (1-0), Niall Campbell (0-5, 4f); Mickey McCann (0-1), Stephen Boyle (0-1), Stephen Gillespie. Subs: Kevin Glenn for McCann (30), Kyle McGrath for McCann (47).
MacCumhaill’s: Dylan Laverty; Anthony Patton, Justin McGhee, John Anthony Chambers; Conor Griffin, Gavin Browne, Michael Lillis; Jamsie Donnelly, Lee Henderson (0-6, 3f); David White, Ciaran Mathewson (0-5, 1f), Martin O’Reilly; Sean Curran, Paddy Hannigan (0-1), Barney McMenamin. Sub: Aaron McAuley for Laverty (half-time), Ogilvy McGroarty for Patton (40), Barry McGranaghan for Curran (54).
Referee: Eamonn Hassen (Derry).
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