BY DÁIRE BONNAR
AS Burt prepare to face Cloughaneely in the Under-21 ‘B’ final, the side have the chance to complete a rare double.
The Hibernian Park men were crowned Under 21 ‘A’ Hurling champions in the Convoy Centre of Excellence at the end of October and they will go to the same venue this Saturday in the hopes of claiming one more title this year.
It’s an achievement that St Eunan’s completed in 2021 with both ‘A’ titles, but to win the A hurling and B football is a rarity.
“Dual players are getting fewer and fewer so to win the hurling and the football in the one year would mean an awful lot,” Burt manager Sean McHugh said.
“It’s definitely never been done by Burt and I don’t think it has been done by anyone else to be honest, it’s not the A, but the B still has a good standard of football so to win it would be a real achievement.
“There were 13 or 14 of the squad from Sunday still under 18 so the learnings they’ll get from this, and if they can win it then it’ll help their development for breaking into the senior team.
“They won the Senior Hurling and Under 21 Hurling championship and they got edged out in the Intermediate ‘B’ Championship so to win this would top off a real good year for the club.”
It’s a first final at this level for eleven years for the club and McHugh says that nobody expected much of the side this year.
While the squad is young, they have a couple of key players that will be overage next year in Conor Gartland, Liam McKinney, Kevin Curran and Callum Purves who have been to the fore for the team.
They will be keen to lift the trophy in their final season, although many wouldn’t have predicted this line-up in the final.
Burt finished seventh in the league format and after losing by seven points to Glenfin, few gave them a chance in the quarter-final against the side that finished second.
But they went to Páirc Taobhoige and won by a point, before beating a fancied Carndonagh side on Sunday after extra-time by 3-10 to 2-14, thanks to two goals from Shaunie Bradley and one from Ciaran Porter.
“We played Glenfin, Milford and Muff and I thought if we could get to a quarter-final it would be a bonus.
“We were massive underdogs then going up to Glenfin and to come away with the win there gave us belief going into the semi-finals.
“Carn were very strong and to beat them too is massive. Having them tougher games really stood to us.
“The boys have a never say die attitude and that kind of got us over the line.”
It has been a long season for some of the Under 21s at the club, but they have just one final game this year as they take on Cloughaneely in the final and McHugh expects a tough battle.
“They’re nearly burned out at this stage, they might be glad of a couple weeks break.
“They play more GAA than anybody I’ve seen but they never complain. You call a training and they’re the first there and last to leave so they have some drive for it.
“Cloughaneely are there on merit as well, they beat Malin away in the quarters and a decent Milford side.
“I watched them on Friday night and they’re a good side and with their seniors getting relegated form the senior championship, they’ll be mad to win this, as are we.
“We played them last year in the group stage and there doesn’t seem to be many boys gone from last year. They’re dogged, get a lot of turnovers and play with a lot of heart. Their semi-final was like ours where they looked dead and gone after Milford got the goal but like ourselves they have that never say die attitude.”
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