Burt set sights on Croker with All-Ireland JHC semi-final today in Ballyshannon

Burt will take another step into the unknown this afternoon when they line out in their first-ever All-Ireland championship semi-final - and few in the parish need reminding just how far this winter journey has already carried them.

Burt face Sligo and Connacht kingpins Easkey at Fr Tierney Park in Ballyshannon on Saturday 20 December, with a 1pm throw-in and a place in the All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championship final on the line.

No Donegal hurling club has ever reached an All-Ireland club final, but while Burt arrive at this stage as underdogs against a more experienced opponent, they have momentum and never-say-day attitude that has stood them in good stead.

Their route to the last four in Ireland has taken the hard way. They outlasted Derry champions Lavey after extra time in a dramatic Ulster final at Celtic Park. That was followed by a quarter-final victory over London champions Thomas Mac Curtains in Ruislip - another game in which Burt had to reel in a significant deficit.

Team captain Dara Grant says the squad are more than ready to get back into championship action and believes those comeback wins have fundamentally shaped Burt’s mindset. “Results like that gives us belief,” he says. “It shows there's character in the team, a good mentality.”

Burt are boosted this weekend by the return of Ronan McDermott, who missed the London quarter-final through suspension. His availability adds another attacking option to scoring unit that has been led superbly by county men Conor Gartland and Liam Óg McKinney. Gartland produced a man-of-the-match performance in the Ulster final, while McKinney was outstanding in Ruislip, dictating the All-Ireland quarter-final with accuracy and composure.

There is, however, a concern over joint captain Stephen Gillespie. The influential full forward has not featured since picking up an injury in the Ulster final and remains in a race against time to be fit.

Playing championship hurling in December is rare territory, but it is something Grant says the squad are relishing.

“Ah, it's been great to be out on the field at this time, enjoyable.

“It's a privilege to be training for championship at this time of year. A lot of teams are probably meeting up around now and setting out their stall for next year. And here we are, still going.”

That fitness edge, he feels, has been no accident.

“The boys who play in football were in championship action right through August and September, but [manager] Enda McDermott put in a breve bit of work with the lads who were footballing on those ten or 12 weeks leading up to the Ulster club.

“It seems to have paid off in the last few games.”

Manager McDermott himself knows what provincial success looks like, having won an Ulster Junior Hurling Championship medal as a player back in 2011. Now, he has Burt on the brink of something unprecedented.

Standing in their way are an Easkey side steeped in experience at this level. The west Sligo club are six-in-a-row county senior champions and four-in-a-row Connacht Junior champions. They reached the All-Ireland Junior final in 2022 losing narrowly to Cork opposition, and have rarely been far away since.

Full forward Andrew Kilcullen is their chief scoring threat and free-taker, while centre half-back Rory McHugh was man of the match in their Connacht final win over Ballinasloe. Managed by former Sligo boss Padraig Mannion, Easkey also draw players from St Farnan’s and St Patrick’s and defeated St Eunan’s in the CuChulainn Division 1 Shield final back in October.

Grant is under no illusions about the challenge ahead.

“We know Easkey will be a test well beyond anything we've faced so far,” he said. “They have a pedigree on the national stage, and that's something we will have to prepare for.”

For Burt, the prize is enormous. Just as their neighbours Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin blazed a trail by reaching last year’s All-Ireland junior football final, Burt now carry Donegal hurling hopes into Ballyshannon - chasing a shot at history and a place in a Croke Park decider in the New Year.

Saturday's game throws-in at 1pm, and will be streamed live on TG4's YouTube channel.