McDermott hoping to prevail in Ulster clash

BY MATTHEW WILSON

BURT hurling manager Enda McDermott is hoping that his side can prevail when they meet Castlewellan in the Ulster Junior Club Championship this Sunday.

The Hibernian Park residents were Donegal Senior Hurling champions in 2024 however, they suffered defeat to Setanta in the last four this term.

That semi-final meeting took place at the start of August so the Burt outfit took two weeks off before getting back on the grass in preparation for their Ulster campaign.

With such a lengthy gap between the end of the county competition and the start of Ulster, McDermott expressed that it’s difficult to get the group back to the level to come back out and go again.

“We’re training and that, which is basically all we can do. I’ve been telling everybody the same and the problem is, the gap between our last game and this weekend has been 12 or 13 weeks. That’s the downside to our County Championship being so early.”

“We have played a few friendlies but friendlies are nothing compared to competitive matches. But we’re training away and doing what we can do.”

“You’re knocked out in a semi-final and it’s hard to get boys going again to get back out to training and prepare for it.”

“Setanta and St Eunan’s are in the same boat. St Eunan’s got beat in a final, how do you lift your head to compete in Ulster then nine weeks later.”

McDermott discussed that they are without Paddy Curran for the upcoming Ulster Championship. However, they’ve been boosted by the return of Ciaran Brady and Liam Óg McKinney.

They face a trip to the Mourne County this Sunday where they’re set to face Down outfit Castlewellan in the last eight of the Ulster Junior Club Championship.

Having only played their county final last Friday, the Down club may come into this encounter the sharper of the two, with McDermott stating that they’re going into the unknown.

“You’re going into the unknown. They played their final on Friday night so they’re going into this match with an eight or nine day break.”

“On one side of things it’s good but on the other side of things, if they picked up any niggles then they’re struggling.”

“We’ve done a bit of research on them. Hopefully we’ll get a few matchups sorted but we don’t want to take away from our own game either.”

“Hopefully we’ll be prepared for them and give it a good shot, you just never know on the day then.”

The Hibernian Park outfit narrowly missed out on a place in the Ulster Intermediate decider 12 months ago.

They dropped down a level to the Junior grade for the latest edition of the competition although the Burt boss is taking nothing for granted but hopes they can come out on top on Sunday.

“You can’t take anything for granted, we’re not underestimating Castlewellan. We’ve gone from the Intermediate to Junior Championship but there’s not a big difference in a lot of these teams.”

“We’ll be preparing like we would for any other game and giving them that respect because we’re in Junior, we’re in it for a reason.”

“Hopefully we can give it our best and come out on the other side of it.”