Mac Cumhaills retain Donegal U16 hurling title after second-half surge against Burt

Sean Mac Cumhaills 2-15

Burt 2-6

Sean Mac Cumhaills U16s retained the county hurling championship title with a nine point win over Burt at Hibernian Park on Thursday night.

Trailing by two points at the break, Mac Cumhaills drew level through Zach Carroll early in the second half with the same player hitting an injury time goal to put the outcome beyond doubt.

Burt battled hard, with goalkeeper Dara Lowth pulling off a series of fine stops and captain Shea Boyle the pivot around which much of their play revolved, but with half a dozen starters unavailable through holidays, they simply ran out of steam.

Talented centre forward Caolain Gillespie struck 1-7 for the winners, who have now completed an U16 league and championship double having also overcome Burt in the league final three weeks ago.

The first half was a real ding-dong contest, with Shea and Kyle Boyle pointing for Burt and Caolan Gillespie, Zach Carroll and Jake Patton all on target for Mac Cumhaills.

Gillespie swooped in for Mac Cumhaills' first goal, which came in the 20th minute when a ruck developed in the Burt parallelogram and the centre forward emerged to prod the ball into the net from close range for a 1-4 to 0-3 lead.

Burt hit back with a couple of goals almost immediately. The first from Dáire Dowds who pulled on the loose sliotar after a shot from Oran Doherty dropped short, and the second from Kyle Boyle, whose long-range strike deceived the keeper and ended up in the net.

The momentum was with the home side, with Daniel Walker making some crucial blocks and clearances from full back and Damhán Dowds and Conor Green hitting a point apiece.

However, late points from Gillespie and Seán Óg Hannigan settled Mac Cumhaills and narrowed the half time deficit to two points, 1-6 to 2-5.

Mac Cumhaills got increasingly on top after the change of ends. Evan McCarron got them off the mark with a point shortly after the restart and lively wing forward Zach Carroll drew his side level in the 33rd minute.

Gillespie was accurate from play and placed balls, adding four second half points to his 1-7 tally, as Mac Cumhaill's turned the screw.

Burt continued to hook, block and put their bodies on the line to thwart their opponents, with Conor Kerrigan, Ronan Ferguson and Dara Toner all defending superbly, but their scores dried up and they managed only a solitary point, through Damhán Dowds, in the second half.

The fresh legs of Emmet Cannon and Peter Austen gave Mac Cumhaill's added impetus, and with Carroll, Gillespie and Hannigan all adding points they built up a six point cushion without quite shaking off the threat from the goal-hunting Burt boys.

Carroll, though, put the game to bed in the 60th minute, scoring a cracking individual goal and ensured the title - and another under-age hurling double - for Mac Cumhaills.

Mac Cumhaills scorers: Caolain Gillespie 1-7; Zach Carroll 1-4; Seán Óg Hannigan 0-2; Jake Patton 0-1; Evan McCarron 0-1.

Burt scorers: Kyle Boyle 1-1; Dáire Dowds 1-0; Shea Boyle 0-2; Damhán Dowds 0-2; Conor Green 0-1.

Sean Mac Cumhaills: Breadon Byrne; James O'Connor, Oran Cannon, Ryan McGowan; Eanna Byrne, Matthew Dowds, Daithi Doherty; Sean Óg Hannigan, Ultan Coyle; Zach Carroll, Caolain Gillespie, Jake Patton; Evan McCarron, Cahir McCloskey, Andrew Tourish. Subs: Emmet Cannon, Peter Austen, James McElhinney, Darragh Browne.

Burt: Darragh Lowth; Kyle Gallagher, Daniel Walker, Conor Kerrigan; Ronan Ferguson, Oran Doherty, Cadhan Mulhern; Dara Toner, Oisin Green; Cian Clarke, Shea Boyle, Kyle Boyle; Conor Green, Damhán Dowds, Dáire Dowds. Sub: Caoimhin Barr.

Referee: James Callaghan (Setanta)