Burt have the answers in classic showdown

By Ryan Ferry

FIACHRA Gill beamed with delight as he toasted Burt’s success after Saturday’s Ulster Junior Hurling final against Lavey.

Gill came off the bench to score the winning point in extra-time and was thrilled as he basked in the glory with family and clubmates after the match.

“It was lucky enough,” said the 21-year-old. “No, to be fair to the boys we dug deep with 14 men.

“We pushed each other over the line. That’s what being from Burt is about.

“We were chasing for a long time. We knew ourselves that we didn’t start overly great.

“It’s all about getting over the line. Finals are about winning. It doesn’t matter how you win them.”

Gill admitted that how the winning point came about was a bit of a blur but when the sliotar arrived in his hand, he didn’t hesitate or wait for someone else to take responsibility.

“The ball came to me and it was a wee bit high and I thought ‘just catch it whatever you do.’

“I turned and hit it. I had only come on but the legs were gone.

“There was a lot of pressure on. I just got it and hit it and hoped to God it would go over again and thankfully it did.”

Gill was quick to heap praise on Conor Gartland who produced a performance for the ages at midfield for Burt.

“We talked about history and having respect for what came before us, and Gartland’s performance will be remembered forever.

“I’ve never seen anyone drag us through like that in my life. And it’s not just today – he does it week in, week out. He always has the answers.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Curran says Burt fought with everything they had to win Saturday’s Ulster final.

The defender from Burnfoot scored a vital point in the second half and his team refused to yield against Lavey.

“It was a great battle. We knew it was going to be a hard game. Every match that we have played so far has been.

“I know we got a good score up against Castlewellan but they made us fight for it.

“As Enda (McDermott) says, we’re not going to get anything handed to us so you need to dig deep and that’s what we did.

“In the second half, we fought with everything we have.”

Curran is a digital design student at Ulster University and he’s looking forward to making the trip across the pond to face the British champions Thomas McCurtain’s in the Twinning final.

“We will be back out in two weeks’ time. To be honest, we didn’t look past today because we knew we couldn’t take it for granted.

“It will be a great experience for us.

“We are a young team and you have the likes of Stephen (Gillespie), Dara (Grant), ‘Burnsy’ (Paul Burns), and ‘Roger’ (Ronan McDermott) there to give experience.

“That’s the start of it for us now and hopefully there’s more to come.”