Bredagh overcomes Burt in a nail-biting finish to secure Ulster semi-final spot

Burt were left heartbroken as the final whistle sounded in Newry to send Bredagh through to the semi-final of the Ulster club intermediate hurling championship with a two-point victory over the Donegal champions.

A goal gifted to the Inishowen hurlers in the 52nd minute brought a ray of hope to the Burt men, but the Down champions held on with Jarlath McCollum and Ben Christie nailing two final points in injury time to send the boys in maroon through to the next round and bringing the curtain down on Burt's Ulster journey.

Joe Hanrahan would open the scoring on the third minute when he fired over from long range, unmarked, next to the stand in Páirc Ésler. 

Burt would take time to find their feet and wouldn’t land their first score until the sixth minute of the match when Kevin Curran fired in a long ball on top of the Bredagh goal, allowing Kieran Brady to win the loose ball and find space to hit over. 

Aiden McKinney would follow suit a minute later to put his side in front with his team’s second point before Liam McKinney would nail over from a free as the Donegal champions began to find their feet in the game. 

Donal Hughes nearly found the back of the Burt net on 10 minutes when he drove through a tight angle and attempted to bury the sliotar low, but it had too much power behind it as he was forced to settle for a point. 

Liam McKinney was as accurate as ever when he knocked over his second free of the afternoon to put two between the sides, but Tiarnan Sheehan put one back with a ‘65’ on the 15th minute. 

Credit must go to both defences as they remained rock solid in the wet conditions in Newry, but both sides were still finding range with Burt’s Conor Gartland and Bredagh’s Ben Christie both trading points before Hughes levelled the match on the 20th minute at 0-5 each. 

Liam McKinney would once again knock over for his third of the afternoon, but then repeated mistakes in the Burt backline ended with Bredagh shooting over three points in-a-row, with Mark Patterson, Rory McCamphill, and Eoin Kennedy all hitting over to give the Down men the lead. 

McKinney led the way with two more points from frees on the 25th minute following on from a Kennedy point to keep his side in front in a real nip-and-tuck game of hurling, with both sides going at it blow for blow. 

Sheehan, with two points, and Christie led the way with three more scores before the half-time break for Bredagh, while Burt was relying heavily on Liam McKinney who was firing from all angles to keep his side in the contest as the teams made their way to the dressing room for the break with the Down champions leading 0-12 to 0-10 at the end of the first 30 minutes. 

Bredagh started as they finished the half with Hughes raising a white flag with ease straight from the throw-in, but Burt hit back with Brady breaking through the Down defence and nailing for goal, but Ian Galway was on hand to pull off a miraculous save to palm out for a ‘65’. 

Despite Burt spending a considerable amount of time in the dressing rooms during half-time, it was Bredagh who were the better side from the resumption, with Hughes landing another point to put four between the sides. 

McKinney eventually nailed his side’s first score, and his eighth of the afternoon on the 35th minute when he shot over from a close free, but Hughes was again on hand to raise his third white flag within seven minutes as the Down men took control. 

Sean Hughes was only on the field a matter of seconds when he found space and fired over from distance, while Kennedy followed up from the púc out when he capitalised on a Burt turnover in the Donegal side’s defence to hammer over and put six between the teams. 

McKinney was keeping his side in the match with his free taking, hitting two points back-to-back but Bredagh were finding scores much easier by this point as they cruised up the field to slot over, with Patterson nailing his second of the day on the 44th minute to make it 0-18 to 0-13. 

Aiden McKinney landed his side’s first score from play in the second half on the 47th minute, but by this stage, Bredagh’s play and intensity were at another level to that of the Donegal side. 

Despite being well in control, Bredagh granted Burt a lifeline on the 51 minutes. Following McKinney’s 12th point of the day, the following púc out landed to Brady who shot from the sideline, with his resulting effort dropping short but hitting off the hand of defender Mel Lavery to land into the net to level the match on the 52nd minute. 

Bredagh responded quickly with a Hughes point, which was his side’s first score in 10 minutes. This was followed by a goal chance from Hanrahan who fired low to the net, but Paul Burns pulled off a great save to keep his team one behind. 

McKinney and Kennedy traded points entering the game's final minutes, before the former brought it level with a minute left on the clock when the Donegal forward was left unmarked to raise a white flag. 

A sloppy foul on the 45-metre line allowed Christie to fire over to put his side back in front before Jarlath McCollum shot over for his first of the afternoon to make it 0-22 to 1-17 deep into injury time. 

McKinney hit over his 15th point of the day to put one between the teams but Christie hit over the final point of the day to put Bredagh through to the semi-final of the Ulster championship. 

Burt scorers: Liam McKinney 0-15, 11fs; Mel Lavery 1-0 (OG); Aiden McKinney 0-2; Kieran Brady 0-1. 
Bredagh scorers: Donal Hughes 0-6; Ben Christie 0-5, 4fs; Eoin Kennedy 0-3; Tiaran Sheehan 0-3, 2fs; Mark Patterson and Joe Hanrahan 0-2 each; Rory McCamphill, Jarlath McCollum 0-1 each. 

Burt: Paul Burns; Oisin Kelly, Ciaran Bradley, Callum Pervus; Kevin Curran, Christopher McDermott, Paddy Curran; Stephen Gillespie, Dara Grant; Aiden McKinney, Ronan McDermott, Kieran Brady; Ciaran Porter, Liam McKinney, Conor Gartland. 

Bredagh: Ian Galway; Mel Lavery, Lawrence Smyth, Oran McFlynn; Michael Woods, Niall McFarland, Liam Hogan; Mark Patterson, Donal Hughes; Rory McCamphill, Joe Hanrahan, Jarlath McCollum; Tiaran Sheehan, Eoin Kennedy, Ben Christie. Subs: Sean Hughes for McCamphill (37); Damien Hanrahan for Kennedy (63). 

Referee: Tarlach Conway (Derry)