Burt determined to make impact as they return to the Ulster championship this week

Donegal hurling blue bloods Burt has not been in a provincial club championship since 2018, but they are determined to make a real impression this year as they lock horns with Bredagh in Páirc Esler on Sunday. 

And team captain, Ronan McDermott, has been at the heart of his club since he first played in the provincial championship back in 2011. 

Burt shocked a star-studded Setanta side in a county final thriller with 14 men for much of the second half, and McDermott believes that win will set them up nicely for their joust with Bredagh. 

Asked about a transformative year, McDermott said: “It was six years since we last won the Donegal championship and we put a lot of work into it these past few years, but we just came up short in the past, so it was great to finally get over the line. We are now hoping to go well in Ulster,” McDermott said. 

Setanta had been warmly fancied, and it was widely believed that their forward line would be too powerful for the Burt defence. 

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“Our defence was solid all day and kept their big players quiet, and we went man-for-man on them which nobody expected, and it worked. 

“We went for it and our youth showed and pulled us through.” 

Burt and McDermott’s last outing in Ulster was in 2018 when they were beaten by Monaghan champions Castleblayney. But McDermott add that a lack of preparation due to balancing their hurling campaign with the football was the main reason for their loss back in 2018. 

“We were playing senior football championship that season and we just did not get the chance to fully prepare for the hurling,” he added. 

“We have had a good break this time of five weeks, but we did not get a chance to play any challenge matches as the boys have been involved in football as well. 

“But we have had a few good training sessions for the past few weeks.” 

And even though Mickey McCann is not the official manager, his fingerprints were all over that stunning county final. 

Meanwhile, McDermott lined out with McCann in 2011, and he “was a very smart player and now he has taken that into the county set up”. 

“He and Ronan McLaughlin and Niall Campbell were really outstanding and now they are putting something back into the club.” 

McDermott added that Sunday’s test will be a first for quite a few of the Burt team and there is a great buzz about the place since the club also won their third Donegal U-21 championship on the trot last weekend with six of those players on the U-21 side lining out in the senior county final. 

It’s their first match in Ulster in six years and they are hoping to make it a memorable one.