AIB Ulster Junior Hurling Championship semi-final.
Burt (Donegal) 1-15 Con Magee’s (Antrim) 1-9
Con Magees Glenravel came up short on Sunday against Donegal champions Burt at Celtic Park in Derry, losing out by six in the end as their opponents booked their place in in next Saturday’s final against Derry representatives Lavey, back at the same venue.
During a dominant first half it was mainly one way traffic, but the Antrim side were thrown a lifeline when full forward Declan Traynor scored a great individual goal after 20 minutes, and at half time they were just five adrift. With wind advantage in the second period Glenravel came storming back, holding Burt scoreless during the third quarter while hitting six of their own without reply, to take a one point advantage. However that was a good as it got for the men in green and Burt found a way back in the last ten minutes to secure their place in next week’s final
With the fresh breeze behind them in the opening half Burt were in control from the start and with corner forward Liam Og McKinney firing over points from all angles they soon opened a five point lead, Dara Grant and Eoin McDaid joining McKinney on the scoreboard. The Con Magees men could not get to grips with a much sharper Burt side and it was fifteen minutes before Cormac McKeown got his team’s opening score. Conor Gartland came back right away for the Donegal men and the excellent McKinney added another to put six between the sides but Declan Traynor won a breaking ball in the right corner before racing in and firing left-sided past Paul Burns in the Burt goal to cut their arrears to just three.
Once again Burt hit back right away and even though Glenravel grabbed another point through McKeown, three from McKinney had them 0-10 to 1-02 ahead at the interval.
Things looked a lot more promising for Glenravel when they got the opening score of the second half through Cormac McKeown, and when Conleth O’Loan grabbed two more the confidence began to grow. They had to rely on a couple of excellent defensive tackles and some great saves from goalkeeper Chrissy Quinn during that time to keep the Donegal men at bay, but when Sean McKay, Callum Higgins and O’Loan sent over points they led for the first time.
The Glenravel fans were in full cry as a highly unlikely turnaround suddenly looked possible, but the scoring dried up as Burt began to regain their composure. Man of the match McKinney turned the game back in his side’s favour when his fired in a superb goal from a narrow angle and when he added a point a minute later the lead was out to three.
Glenravel battled hard to get back into the game but hard though they tried the scores just would not come and Burt ended with three more to seal the win by a six point margin.
Burt: P Burns, J McDonaghy, C Bradley, K Curran, O Kelly, D Grant 0-1, A McKinney, S Gillespie, K McColgan, E McDaid 0-1 Ciaran Porter, C Gartland 0-1, C McDermott, R McDermott 0-1, L Óg McKinney 1-11 (0-5fs)
Subs: F Gill for E McDaid (17), C per is for J Donaghy (41), K Brady for K McColgan (41), K McColgan for C Porter (56), Callum porter for S Gillespie (60 +2)
Con Magee’s: C Quinn, E McCusker, J Duffin, B O’Neill, M McDonnell, C Lennon, R Lennon, D McAuley, F Donaghy, L Loughlin, S McKay 0-1, C Higgins 0-1, C O’Loan 0-2 (1f), D Traynor 1-0, C McKeown 0-5
Subs: H Fyfe for E McCusker (41), C Duffin D Traynor (53)
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