Burt secure promotion to Division 2 with home win over Urris

Burt secured promotion to Division 2 with this 13 point win over Urris at Hibernian Park on Sunday afternoon.

Playing into the breeze, Burt raced into an 0-6 to 0-1 lead with Keith McColgan, Sean McHugh and Jack O’Brien hitting two points apiece, with Conor Bradley hitting a free in response for Urris.

Urris added three points without reply - through Bradley, Dean Harkin and John McCarron - to narrow the gap to three points. McHugh and Conor Gartland both hit points for Burt, but two two point frees from Conor Bradley drew the sides level at 0-8 apiece with 27 minutes on the clock.

A foul on Gartland in the parallelogram saw referee Charlie Creevy award a penalty for the home side and Jack O’Brien, who’d earlier had a goal attempt saved by Johnny Noone, sent the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot and Conor Gartland added a point that saw Burt lead by 1-9 to 0-8 at the short whistle.

Four green flags were raised within ten minutes of the restart, three of them for the home team.

Jack O’Brien got the first for Burt, but that was quickly cancelled out by one fisted to the net by Oisin Hession at the other end.

Darragh Donaghey, Shayne Gallagher and Keith McColgan (2) kept the points flowing on the breeze, and when a McColgan shot dropped short into the square Sean McHugh did well to get above a defender and the keeper to flick it to the net for a 3-13 to 1-9 lead, and that was quickly followed by the goal of a day, a close range chip from Dara Grant with an audacious chip the flummoxed the keeper.

Urris continued to battle, and with big John McCarron imposing himself around the middle made a right fist of playing into the wind.

Pearse McCarron hit 1-1, his goal a first time volley from the edge of the parallelogram after the Burt rearguard failed to clear a shot the dropped short.

But Burt continued to tag on the scores as they introduced a slew of subs from the bench and had 13 points to spare at the end.

Nine wins from nine matches moves Burt onto 18 points and secures automatic promotion with two games remaining.

Naomh Bríd can also amass 18 points if they beat Letterkenny Gaels next Sunday, but a defeat to the Hibernian Park side in round 2 means they will lose out on the head-to-head and must be content with a place in the promotion / relegation play-off against third from bottom in Division 2.

Burt scorers: Jack O’Brien 2-3 (1-0 pen, 1f); Sean McHugh 1-4 (1f); Keith McColgan 0-5; Dara Grant 1-0; Conor Gartland 0-2; Dara Donaghey 0-1; Shayne Gallagher 0-1; Stephen O’Donnell 0-1

Urris scorers: Conor Bradley 0-7 (two 2ptf, 3f); Pearse McCarron 1-1; Oisin Hession 1-0; John McCarron 0-1; Dean Harkin 0-1

Burt: Niall McGlynn; Leo Kelly, Tom Doherty, Caolan McKinney; Dara Grant, Oisin Kelly, Darren Gallagher; Denver Kelly, Stephen O’Donnell; Keith McColgan, Sean McHugh, Conor Gartland; Jack O’Brien, Darragh Donaghhey. Subs: Michael McElroy, Martin Donaghey, Andrew Walker and Mark McElhinney.

Urris: Jonny Noone; Jonathan McDaid, Luke Mullins, Cormac Dillon; Dean Harkin, James Cooke, Lorcan McGonagle; Ciaran McDaid, John McCarron; Pearse McCarron, Conor Bradley, Jack Lackin; Tiarnan McDonald, Oisin Hession, Dylan McEleney.

Referee: Charlie Creevy (Letterkenny Gaels)