Coulter still leading the way but for now is just happy to get the win for Setanta

Age is definitely only a number as far as Declan Coulter is concerned. 

At 38, the ex-Armagh star is the Peter Pan of Setanta and indeed Donegal, and he produced a second-half display of the highest quality in the cauldron of a real championship-type battle with their old rivals Burt. 

His ability to win ball, give a telling pass, and hit a vital score remains undimmed. 

But an understandably breathless Coulter was just happy to get the win as his Setanta side won out on a 2-22 to 3-11 win. 

“We were taking it as a knock-out game and I know people made a lot out of us missing five, but as Niall Cleary said we knew this was coming and it was just a case of next man up,” he said. 

“You could see Fionn Farren, his first big championship match at corner-back and he knocked over a point and I am just delighted for him. 

“Burt got three rapid goals and we knew they were capable of that, having played for the county with some of their players. 

“Liam McKinney and Ronan McDermott are always dangerous and some of the goals came from our mistakes, but we showed a lot of character to come back in the second half.” 

But there was no banging of tables at the break. It was more a case of limiting their mistakes according to Coulter. 

“We upped our work rate in the second half and every time you play Burt you know it is going to be a dog fight and they probably won that battle in the first half but we made sure it did not happen in the second half.” 

But once again, Gerry Gilmore played a huge role in this hard-earned victory. 

“His goal was vital, and we all know at this stage what Gerry is capable of but we did not give him and Ruairi Campbell enough ball in the first half. 

“It does not even have to be good ball, and we spoke about it at half time and we started to put the ball in quicker to the full-forward line and once we got a few points, they had to come out at us and gaps started to appear. Gerard’s goal was just fantastic. 

“But we gave them a few handy frees in the first half and Liam McKinney is just so accurate and you can’t afford to be doing that, but we limited the amount of frees conceded in the second half and that was important. 

“We now play Sean MacCumhaills next week but this win was massive for us, but this is not the end of Burt. We will probably see them again.” 

Most likely in the county final!