Donegal Senior Hurling Championship final: Burt 2-7 Seán MacCumhaill's 0-12
MORAL victories just don’t quite cut it, as a heroic Sean MacCumhaills found out against and unusually shaky Burt side in a thrilling Donegal county decider on Saturday evening.
The reigning champions held on by their aristocratic fingertips against a brave Twin Towns side that staged a superb second half to outscore the ‘Kilkenny of Donegal hurling” by 0-9 to 0-4.
But their greater craft and experience and a man of the math display from Niall Campbell saw them through to their fifth county title on the trot.
At one stage in the opening half, Burt led by a clear seven points playing into the breeze, but they were simply not allowed to take advantage of the elements by a gallant Sean MacCumhaills side in an exciting second half.
But it is goals that win matches and Burt grabbed both in the opening half against the breeze.
Their first came via all the usual suspects as man of the match Niall Campbell played a short 65 to his Terrible Twin Mickey McCann.
McCann fired a speculative shot in towards the edge of the square where Ronan McDermott grabbed the sliothar before blasting a rocket to the roof of the MacCumhaills net.
McDermott’s magnificent strike put Burt ahead by 1-2 to 0-1 in the 11th minute that negated an unusually nervous opening ten minutes from the champions.
It also came a few minutes after Paddy Hannigan and Ciaran Matthewson spurned two good goaling chances in the 4th and eight minutes for the losers.
However the crucial score of the match came in the 15th minute, and effectively sealed the deal for the champions.
Burt’s burly centre forward centre forward Gavin McGrath seemed to make a pretty tentative contact with the sliothar as it leisurely trickled towards the MacCumhaills goal.
And it beat the best efforts of MacCumhaills keeper Dylan Lafferty.
It looked grim for the losers as Burt turned over with a lead of 2-3 to 0-3 and a second half breeze at their backs.
But somebody forgot to tell Lee Henderson, Ciaran Matthewson, Jamesie Donnelly, Gavin Brown and Co as they tore into the champions with gusto.
MATCH STATS
Burt: P Burns, M McGrath, C Dowds, D Grant; J Downey, J Boyle, C McDermott; P Doherty, C Harkin; R McDermott (1-0), G McGrath (1-0), N Campbell (0-54f); M McCann (0-1), S Boyle (0-1), S Gillespie; Subs: K Glynn for McCann (27 inj), K McGrath for Glynn (41).
Seán MacCumhaill's: D Laverty, A Patton, J McGee, J A Chambers; C Griffin, G Browne, M Lillis; J Donnelly, L Henderson (0-64f); D White, C Matthewson, (0-51f) M O’ Reilly; S Curran, P Hannigan (0-1), B McMenamin; Subs: A McAuley for D Lafferty (h-time inj), O McGroarty for A Patton (46), B McGranaghan for S Curran (53).
Referee: E Hasson (Derry)
