Two sides of Burt’s All-Ireland challenge

Burt are Donegal’s oldest club and on the All-Ireland trail for the first time in their history this weekend. Marty McGrath tells how a core of the team came through the club’s underage system together. Michael McMullan writes…

FOUR years of Féile hurling form the foundation of Burt’s All-Ireland challenge in Ballyshannon on Saturday.

Of the panel that trot out the Fr Tierney Park tunnel to take on Easkey, half come from the club’s 2014 to 2017 Féile campaigns.

For the first two years, they hosted Bruff of Limerick and Sligo’s Naomh Eoin in the competition before making the trip to Tipperary in 2016 and Carlow 12 months later.

While Burt is in its 138th year, Naomh Mhuire were a second hurling team in the parish for nearly two decades before fading away at the turn of the millennium.

At underage level, Burt participated and competed more often than they won. It has helped build the persistence and character they needed on their two last outings.

Down to 14 men against Lavey, they needed Conor Gartland to pull them back from the brink before winning the game in extra-time.

They were staring into the eyes of defeat in London in the Twinning final, effectively an All-Ireland quarter-final, before Liam Óg McKinney worked his magic to lead a comeback completed by his brother Aidan’s winning point.

Goalkeeper Paul Burns and joint captains Dara Grant and Stephen Gillespie are the oldest players in the panel.

In the middle are Ronan and Christopher McDermott, the only remaining members of their 2009 u-16 winning team.

“There’s a group of players there from Oisin Kelly down to, say, Aidan McKinney, there’s a four-year gap between them,” outlines Burt’s Marty McGrath, the current Donegal hurling games development coordinator, one of those who coached many of the current senior squad.

A gap in playing numbers coincided with Colm Davis retiring from his teaching post in the local St Aengus NS in Bridgend from 2011 onwards.

Starting with a group of players now in their mid to late twenties, Burt made a commitment of five years travelling over the border to Derry’s Go Games competitions.

“When lads are young, they learn and you only learn really by experiencing it,” McGrath pointed out.

“If you’re not exposed to it, how can you do it? It’s like the Donegal senior team, once they’re exposed to a higher level for a few years.

“If you can get enough games, especially in a county like Donegal, where football is the main sport, if you can just increase that.”

The more games the better. With enough exposure, development has a chance to sink roots into a squad.

“This exposure was vital and planted the seeds for long-term growth,” outlined McGrath, who along with Manus O’Donnell went into the schools.

That ongoing coaching was given strong support from teachers. Another component was dual parish leagues, in football and hurling. Combined with work in the schools, it led to a steady increase in players.

“We were lucky enough to host a Féile two years in a row and then they qualified for a Féile two years in a row,” he added.

“That embedded the players and even the parents. Whenever you host a Féile, and at that time, they’re staying around the houses, that makes a difference

“I suppose it’s easy to keep parents on board whenever they’re seeing that they’re going to get something out of it. In that age group, there could 16 or 17 that come through from those four years.”

The Go Games was the foundation for getting players hurling out of their comfort zone. Success was scarce but development was invaluable.

There was the occasional B title in Donegal. There was a draw at u-12 level in a Go Games final. They reached an All-Ireland Féile Shield and the highest point was a Féile Cup final when they went down to Clare side Broadford.

“I’m a great believer in this, that underage success doesn’t transfer,” McGrath adds. “It probably has made them resilient in some ways.”

When silverware came, it was in the form of back-to-back minor A titles in 2022 and 2023. Both years they were u-21 champions, adding a third u-21 success in 2024.

Players from a team that won the 2019 u-12 success came in too. It was all building blocks towards last year’s senior success.

“The resilience built from not having too much success too young is now standing to this group,” McGrath summed up.

Burt man Mickey McCann is the current Donegal senior manager and has overseen huge strides made in the game in the county. A victory over Kerry in the league opened the eyes of the nation to their progression.

The Burt players on his squad down the years have also benefited from training with the best players in the county, with their skills being put to the test outside their comfort zone.

“I suppose the two big players, they are household names, Liam McKinney and Conor Gartland,” McGrath added of two from the younger group who have excelled at county level.

“Liam, for example, I can remember him landing down at Burt training at the start. He was only eight, he was able to lift the ball and strike it off the left and right.”

Another player appeared at an u-10 coaching session one day, coming out in the pitch and mad for hurling. It was Gartland

“He actually just hopped over the fence out of nowhere,” McGrath recalls. It’s mad, he hit a sideline and put it over the bar. You’re like, right, ‘where are you from, what’s your name?’

“It’s about luck and if you get players of that quality, the rest of the players are attracted to it then, so the rest of the boys hang on to it.

“He (Gartland) was around a couple of other clubs first, but whatever happened to him, he ended up in Burt pitch.

“These things happen sometimes for a reason. We just happened to be lucky that we were there training at that time when he landed down.”

SPREADING THEIR WINGS…A Burt underage team at the Derry Go Games in Owenbeg in 2013

Burt’s pathway to this weekend’s All-Ireland semi-final is a different one, having failed to make the Donegal final.

With Setanta winning the title, their recent Ulster Intermediate success graded them into the senior semi-final against St John’s.

St Eunan’s then became the Donegal intermediate representatives. Below that, Burt ended up in a junior race that also including Derry side Lavey, tipped to also make the final.

“I’m only looking from the outside, but I suppose the boys sat down and said they’d have a good go at it,” McGrath surmised.

“They got the Down team (Castlewellan) first, which probably gave them a wee bit of platform. They played well and were a bit stronger than them.”

Burt hit 3-27 in victory before coming through a semi-final with Antrim champions Con Magee’s from Glenravel.

“Once you get a bit of confidence in your first game in, things start to happen for you. I think that’s what happened,” McGrath added.

“Whenever I heard Burt was in the junior and I heard Lavey was on the other side, I was thinking, well, this is probably going to be a Burt-Lavey final.”

That’s how it materialised and with the game destined for penalties, Burt snatched victory thanks to Fiachra Gill, with the last puck of a dramatic encounter in Celtic Park.

It was a victory without the suspended Aidan McKinney and having Ronan McDermott dismissed before half time.

Not having a mountain of success at underage had always left Burt hungry as they stepped through the ranks. Then they were in the trenches against Lavey, but they knew what battling looked like.

It was the same in Ruislip when Thomas McCurtain’s when Aidan McKinney delivered the winning score after another day battling against defeat for lengthy spells.

“There has been a brilliant character from them,” McGrath summed up. “In the Lavey game and in the game over in London, there were a couple of times where I was thinking, ‘we’re not going to make it out of this’.

“Whatever happened, different players probably stood up and made the difference on the day.

“In the Lavey game, Conor Gartland had one of those once in a career games that everybody dreams about having.

“In London, Liam Óg McKinney, in those last 10 or 15 minutes, dragged us back to get level.”

Sligo side Easkey now stand between Burt and a place in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day.

For McGrath, who by day is at the heart of hurling development across the county, these are the days that inspire the youth.

Youngsters in Burt have clear visions of late drama in Celtic Park, joy, colour and their senior team leaving with a cup at the front of the bus.

“You can’t beat success,” he said. “There’s a great buzz about the place, there are flags up.

“There’s a great amount of excitement and you just hope that we are able to capitalise on that and capture another generation.

“That’s the thing you are trying to do. If you can get those 15 or 16 boys out of four years again, you’d be happy enough.”

That’s the long-term. For a group shaped by testing themselves outside the county, their spin through Barnes’ Gap this weekend represents their biggest journey.

They’ll look across Fr Tierney Park at Easkey. Only one will end their season by running out at Croke Park. The people of Burt will hope their team can come out of another white-knuckle ride.

TRIP TO TIPP…Burt competed in the All-Ireland Féile in Tipperary in 2019

SPREADING THEIR WINGS…A Burt underage team at the Derry Go Games in Owenbeg in 2013

FULL FOCUS…Conor Gartland in u-21 action for Burt against St Eunan’s

SUITED AND BOOTED…Liam Óg and Aidan McKinney pictured at Croke Park in 2024 when Liam Óg was named on the Champion 15 team thanks to his performances for Donegal