'Costly errors and long layoff stopped our Ulster run' - Burt's Martin McGrath

Burt manager Martin McGrath believes the lack of game time in recent weeks and individual errors cost his side a place in the Ulster intermediate hurling semi-final. 

Their quarter-final outing against Bredagh last Sunday in Newry was one that went very much down to the wire in a ding-dong affair until the Down side took firm control to see the game out on a 0-23 to 1-18 scoreline. 

Full-forward Liam McKinney did all he could do, as he rattled off 0-15 points in just over an hour, but the overreliance on him from the Burt men was too strong as Bredagh took firm control of the game in the second half to see out the win. 

A goal gifted to the Inishowen hurlers in the 52nd minute brought a ray of hope to the Burt men, but the Down champions held on with Jarlath McCollum and Ben Christie nailing two final points in injury time, bringing the curtain down on Burt's Ulster journey. 

READ NEXT: Lurgan secures dominant win over Termon to advance to the Ulster senior decider

“Bredagh is a big strong team and we knew it was going to be a tough challenge,” McGrath said outside the Burt dressing room following his side’s defeat.  

“We got a goal towards the end that brought us back into the game, but that was probably the only mistake Bredagh made over the course of the game whereas we made several mistakes. 

“I say our error count was probably up around 13 or 14 maybe which is obviously not good enough especially when they were so clinical up front.” 

Honing in on key factors to the game, McGrath said the nine-week gap between the county final and the provincial championship is a scheduling issue that Donegal GAA need to focus on, with the lack of match practice playing a significant part in Burt’s defeat.  

“I think we need to look at the fact that we haven’t played a competitive match since the county final which was nine weeks ago,” the Burt boss said.  

“I don’t think there is any other county where there’s that big of a gap between a county final and the provincial championship, so maybe that’s something Donegal GAA have to look at. 

“If other counties can find that space, then surely Donegal can do it and make it that little bit easier for teams. Maybe even two weeks of football and then a week of hurling, I don’t know, but surely there’s a way, whether the will is there or not to do it, I don’t know. 

“You could see out there that we were making basic mistakes that wouldn’t happen if we had more match practice, but as I said, we haven’t played a championship game in nine weeks.” 

Despite that, Burt rallied to the end and brought the game level with less than 10 minutes left on the clock. McGrath sees a lot of positives throughout the course of the game and the season but admits that it still doesn’t cover up the disappointment following their loss. 

“Before the match, we were thinking that if we’re only three or points in it with 10 minutes to go, then we wouldn’t be far away, so it was important not to panic and that the chances would come,” he said.  

But credit has to go to Bredagh for how disciplined they were, but our boys still put in a massive effort and they scored 1-18 which isn’t too bad, just the individual errors cost us. 

“You’re going to be disappointed after a tight match and I think if we fixed a few of those errors, it could’ve been a game that may have gone our way. 

“But also, if you told me last January that we would be county champions and playing in Ulster, I would’ve taken the arm off you, so there’s a balance to that as well, but we are still upset we didn’t go further and get over the line.”