Brian MacIntyre admits St Eunan’s heartbroken after Burt denial 

If heartbreak had a colour it would be the black and amber jersey of St Eunan’s star Brian MacIntyre who despite missing out on a county final spot to Burt, was still named ‘player of the match’ at Hibernian Park.

The Letterkenny men’s 1-13 to 0-16 draw with Burt was enough to progress their Inishowen rivals through to the decider at their expense. 

But MacIntyre (25) was everywhere in this contest and drove his side forward at every opportunity.  

He was en route to a relative’s wedding reception in the Mount Errigal Hotel after this titanic tussle on Friday evening but was, understandably, not in a celebratory mood.

However, he graciously said that Burt was the better team on the evening after his team missed a number of easy chances over the hour.

“It will be hard going to this reception after this heartache,” he told DonegalLive. “It is just gutting but Burt were the better team and they got the result.”

MacIntyre set up Sean McVeigh for a great chance of a clinching goal only for the county star to blast the sliotar over the bar.

“That’s hurling and Sean had hard luck. The margins just did not go with us but the lads put in a serious effort and we can’t fault that.

“It was a real battle out there and Burt worked hard and had a great start and they went 1-4 to 0-1 up and that was a great start for them.

“We came back strongly and made it into a real contest. But Burt has some great players and I know that from playing with them for the county”.

At the break referee Trevor Maloney had it 1-7 to 0-10 but, controversially, all three reporters present at the ground and many of the spectators along the perimeter had it 1-8 to 0-9 in Burt’s favour. 

When asked about the scoreline query that threatened to overshadow matters at the break, he said: “We were not too bothered about that, but we died with our boots on and we died with pride.”