Burgess into North Under 21 'B' final

Burgess 2-11

Kilruane MacDonaghs 0-12

Report: Shane Brophy in Kilcolman

Burgess progressed to the North Under 21 ‘B’ Hurling Final after getting the better of Kilruane MacDonaghs in a tight semi-final on Sunday.

Micheal Ryan’s injury time goal sealed the deal for Burgess, but it shouldn’t have come to that as fifteen wides over the hour kept the visitors in the game, but Kilruane didn’t have the forward threat required to punish Burgess’ wastefulness.

It didn’t help the Kilruane cause that they were without forward talisman Kian O’Kelly, who missed the game through injury, and his physical presence and quality was missed from their attack where Nathan Mulcahy from play, and Eoin Carroll from placed balls, carried the main threat.

They were up against a well-drilled Burgess defence where Jack O’Keeffe and Tom Gibson were to the fore, as well as Daire Hogan when forced to move to centre back after a quarter of an hour after Micheal Ryan sustained what appeared to be a broken finger. He played on manfully at full forward, sometimes hurling one handed, and his importance to the team was shown in added time when he got on the end of a side-line cut into the square to fire to the net from close range.

It finally put the game to bed as Kilruane were still within striking distance, but they never looked like managing a goal, even with senior player Aaron Morgan moved into the attack in the final quarter.

The two teams were presented with as ideal conditions as you can get for this time of the year with Nathan Lynch opening the scoring for Kilruane after seven minutes.

Eoghan Grace levelled with a free before he goaled in the eighth minute, running onto a raking Micheal Ryan delivery, and under pressure, his angled shot hit the underside of the crossbar but landed just over the line.

Scores from play were hard to come by, particularly for Burgess with Kieran Grace adding their only point from play in the half with Eoghan Grace’s free-taking keeping their noses in front at half time, 1-6 to 0-7.

At the other end, Kilruane managed five from play with Nathan Lynch bringing his tally to three while Rory Grace and Matthew Moyles also contributed, adding to two Eoin Carroll frees.

Scores from play almost completely dried up after half time. Kilruane wouldn’t score fromopen play in the second half, with all of their five points coming from Eoin Carroll frees while Eoghan Grace (3) and sub Cormac McAuliffe (1) converted likewise for Burgess, with Kieran Grace landing the only point from play in the 43rd minute.

A minute into injury time, just one point separated the sides and with extra time a possibility, Micheal Ryan blasted to the net from close range to send Burgess into the final.

Player of the Match: Daire Hogan (Burgess)

Burgess: Oisin Tucker (6); Aidan O’Dwyer (6), Jack O’Keeffe (7), Tom Gibson (7); Cian Sharkey (7), Micheal Ryan (1-0, 7), Liam Grace (7); Daire Hogan (8), Sean Dunne (6); Conor Cooney (6), Aaron Sharkey (6), Kiefer O’Brien (6); Kieran Grace (0-2, 7), Joe Cooney (6), Eoghan Grace (1-8, 0-8f, 7).

Subs: Cormac McAuliffe for K Grace (2-5 blood); Cormac McAuliffe for Ryan (16-19 blood); Cormac McAuliffe (0-1f) for O’Brien (HT inj); Luke Conneally (6) for A Sharkey (44); Dylan Hough (6) for J Cooney (56).

Kilruane MacDonaghs: Kevin Naughnane (6); Danny Cahalan (6), Cormac Doheny (6), Ross Austin (6); Ciaran Coffey (7), Aaron Morgan (7), David O’Sullivan (7); Rory Grace (0-1, 7), Matthew Moyles (0-1, 7); Jack Mulcahy (6), Nathan Lynch (0-3, 7), Eoin Carroll (0-7f, 7); Paul Dwyer (7), Louis Kennedy (6), Matthew Spain (6).

Subs: Tristan Madden (6) for Kennedy (43); Shane McAteer (NR) for Mulcahy (60+5).

Referee: Pat O’Mahoney (Kiladangan).