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Burt’s search for a win
continues
29.08.08
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Burt...0-5 (M. McCann 0-1; P. O’Brien 0-1; C. Dowds 0-1; L. McKinney 0-1; E. Reddin 0-1) Naomh Columba...1-9 (O. McGinley 1-1; A. O’Gara 0-3; N. McGinley 0-2; M. Cunningham 0-1 (1 free); C. Gavigan 0-1; B. Cannon 0-1) by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent, at Hibernian Park TWO teams with very different things on their minds met at Hibernian Park on Sunday. With only seven points from a possible 22, the home team needed a win to ease their relegation worries while a win would see the visitors go joint top of Division 2 with MacCumhaill’s. With a strong southerly wind blowing straight up the pitch, both teams struggled to come to terms with the difficult conditions. Burt played with the wind on their backs in the first half, but never got enough scores on the board to get themselves into a winning position. Their chances of winning all but evaporated three minutes before the break when Oisin McGinley capitalised on a slip up in the Burt defence and tapped the ball past Ronan McLaughlin to give Naomh Columba a 1-4 to 0-3 lead. The Glencolmcille men struggled to make good use of the wind in the second period, preferring instead to defend their lead by pulling 13 players back into their own half, but they nevertheless ran out convincing seven point winners. |
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Mickey McCann opened Burt’s
account in the fourth minute when used the wind to float
over a point from outside 40m. His teammates weren’t as
adept at judging the wind and between them they ran up
six wides in the first quarter as they failed to turn
possession into scores. Naomh Columba concentrated on running the ball from deep in defence, and were rewarded when Noel McGinley pounced onto a loose ball and pointed from close range. They won the resulting kickout and Andrew O’Gara exchanged passes with the veteran Paddy Hegarty to double Glen’s advantage moments later. Burt found themselves 0-4 to 0-1 arrears after Martin Cunningham converted a free and Conal Gavigan drove out of defence to take a fine point. Manager Hugh Hegarty switched corner back Paul O’Brien with half forward Seamus O’Donnell and was rewarded with a score immediately. O’Brien sent up a Hail Mary from near the sideline more than 40m out and watched as the ball flew over the black spot. Four minutes before the break Burt reduced the deficit to a point when Kevin McDermott switched play from the right wing to the left where Mickey McCann set up Ciaran Dowds for a well-taken point. |
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But just as Burt thought
they were getting themselves back into the game, Naomh
Columba killed it off. A slip up in the Burt defence
allowed Oisin McGinley through one-on-one with Ronan
McLaughlin – who was making his first appearance between
the posts for Burt – and he planted the ball into the
bottom right corner of the net to give Burt a mountain
to climb. Liam McKinney hit a fine point from outside the 45 to make it 0-4 to 1-4 at the break. The impressive Oisin McGinley continued where he left off and pointed within a minute of the restart, but Naomh Columba too found the wind difficult to master. Although the Naomh Columba midfield of Brendan Cannon and Andrew O’Gara remained top of their opposite numbers for most of the second half, Burt’s half backs and half forwards – especially Niall Campbell – picked up more than their share of breaking ball, but they struggled to find scores. Naomh Columba too were struggling to find their range, hitting six wides in the third quarter. However, points from Noel McGinley (39 minutes), Brendan Cannon (42 minutes) and Andrew O’Gara (44 minutes) had them 1-8 to 0-4 ahead as the game petered out to a scrappy conclusion. Naomh Columba introduced 1992 All-Ireland winner Noel Hegarty for his brother Paddy (an under-21 All-Ireland winner away back in 1987) midway through the half and the visitors were content to sit on their lead for the remainder of the game. Eamon Reddin swung his left foot to get Burt’s only score of the second period midway through the half but with 13 Glencolmcille men massed back in defence, scoring chances for the home side were few and far between then the long whistle. Andrew O’Gara capped a fine individual performance with his third point of the day in the 50th minute to secure a seven point win that brought Naomh Columba back to the top of the Division 2 table. With seven games remaining Burt can get themselves out of relegation trouble, but they will have to improve considerably if they are to do so. Burt: Ronan McLaughlin; Paul O’Brien, Ardal McDermott, Mark McGavigan; Martin Donaghy, Eamon Reddin, Mickey McCann; Kevin McDermott, Ciaran Dowds; Seamus O’Donnell, Barry Friel, Niall Campbell; Benny McDermott, Liam McKinney, Dara Grant. Subs: Michael McHugh for D. Grant (half-time); Karl Wilson for B. Friel (47 mins); Paul McHugh for B. McDermott. Naomh Columba: Shane O’Gara; Kieran McBrearty, Terence Byrne, Kevin Cunningham; Gerard Cannon, Michael Maguire, Conal Gavigan; Brendan Cannon, Andrew O’Gara; John Kelly, Pauric Gillespie, Noel McGinley; Oisin McGinley, Paddy Hegarty, Martin Cunningham. Subs: Enda Gillespie for J. Kelly (40 mins); Liam Boyle for K. Cunningham (45 mins); Noel Hegarty for P. Hegarty (46 mins). For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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