Gartland expecting a different St Eunan’s challenge

By Michael McMullan

BURT star Conor Gartland is expecting a much stiffer examination from St Eunan’s in Saturday’s Donegal Senior Hurling Championship final in MacCumhaill Park.

Kieran Brady’s 3-4 tally shot Burt to victory when the sides crossed paths last month in the group stages.

Burt were champions in 2024 but lost to Setanta in last year’s semi-final. St Eunan’s were last champions in 2021 and lost the decider to Setanta two years later.

You have to go back to 2016 when MacCumhaills were the last team outside of St Eunan’s, Burt or Setanta to contest a final.

“We had a really good performance that day (their recent group win over St Eunan’s) and we know it’s going to be a completely different game this time,” Gartland said of what he expects this weekend.

Burt are the reigning Ulster Junior champions and while they started this year’s campaign slowly, Gartland is content with their progress.

After a fine performance against MacCumhaill’s, they were “flat” against champions Setanta.

“We didn’t really play too well against the Carn (Carndonagh) but then, as the Championship went on, we started to come into our own,” he added.

“We beat St Eunan’s and then beat Buncrana well so we are quite happy.”

Their initial aim was to secure a spot in the top four which they did. After that, the focus was on taking a look at the wider landscape.

“Setanta and St Eunan’s are the two you’d be thinking about the most,” Gartland said.

“Unless you top the table, you’re going to get one of them and if you get pass that, you’d have to play one of them in the final anyway.”

Eyes on the prize

The eyes are now on St Eunan’s and bidding for a place in the decider.

Looking back at last season and the Ulster title, Gartland feels it has been excellent for the group.

“It was one of the best things that could have happened to us,” he said.

“In our Ulster run, we fell behind but we were always able to claw it back, it was almost psychological.

“In the semi-final against Con Magees (Glenravel), we started really badly and we were able to claw it back.”

It was the same in the final against Lavey, and Gartland is hopeful their run will inspire another generation of players to bolster the club’s long-term future.

“We had such brilliant turn outs of young lads and girls down at the club watching.

“Hopefully in the future, that will pay dividends and they will see there is a future for hurling in Donegal.

“We were hurling for quite long together so I suppose hopefully that pays dividends as well.

“It’s a whole new year now and the county championships are always the one you want to win.”