Holmes delighted with Burren’s effort

By Shaun Casey

BURREN finally shook the Kilcoo monkey off their backs last weekend to reach the Down Senior Championship final, and manager Collie Holmes was delighted with their effort.

The two sides had clashed previously in the 2023 and 2024 county finals, but Burren really didn’t lay a glove on the Magpies on either of those occasions.

This time around, with a spot in the decider against Clonduff up for grabs, Burren weren’t for taking a backward step and goals from Odhrán Murdock (2), Niall Toner and Ryan Treanor earned them a 4-16 to 1-20 victory.

“It is that balance of getting your own game right and stopping their game, keep it tight and try to suck them up, obviously they have the big players running through” said Holmes, who was part of the management set up that delivered a fourth All-Ireland SFC to Tyrone in 2021.

“We were lucky they didn’t have Shealan Johnston, Daryll Branagan didn’t play, they are huge men and (Sean Óg) McCusker came in with 10 minutes to go, so luck shines on you a wee bit with that as well.

“We got our matchups right but again you can’t go more than two match-ups because once you go two, three, four, you pull yourself out of shape. It was just about playing with energy, playing with quality and we have the boys to do damage up front.”

Those big players included county stars Odhrán Murdock and Liam Kerr, who led the line for the St Mary’s men.

“Big Odhrán from midfield was driving on, Liam Kerr was back to doing what Liam Kerr does, about time,” Holmes continued.

“There is a label about some of these teams. People say Burren didn’t turn up in Newry last year against Carryduff and this year against Clonduff. They have tasted that medicine for more than a week now.

“You can say all you want but you’ve got to look at the quality that you have and the profile of these lads is really good. They are not young, they are not over the hill, there is a good bunch of lads in-between.

“I had 41 lads training all year, we have played something like 39-players through the league and there is only one lad that hasn’t played football because of injuries.

“Bar those and the two Magills (Danny and Harry), they have all played five or six league games. We spent a long time looking at that squad and building them.”