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Red Hugh’s beat Burt in season opener 09.04.10
All County League Division 4

Sluggish Burt get tough reintroduction to life in Division 4

Burt...0-8
(Joe Boyle 0-2 (2 frees); Enda McDermott 0-2; Shane McDaid 0-2 (2 frees); Brian Sheerin 0-1; Paddy McDermott 0-1)


Red Hugh’s...0-9
(Damian Browne 0-5 (4 frees); PJ Gallagher 0-2; Martin Bonner 0-1; Kieran Kelly 0-1)

Report: Inishowen Independent

Burt got a tough introduction to the delights of Division 4 football at Hibernian Park on Saturday night. Relegated from Division 3 last season, they were quickly disabused of any notion that gaining promotion would be a straightforward affair.
Saturday’s was Burt’s first game in the league, while Red Hugh’s had suffered defeat on their first outing seven days earlier. Playing into the wind, Burt looked rusty and the Killygordon men raced into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead in the first quarter; PJ Gallagher with two points from play and two frees from Damian Browne. The strong wind and scrappy stop-start nature of the game (there were 80 frees over the hour, 46 in the first half alone) meant the game was low on entertainment value.
Having fallen four points in arrears, Shane McDaid, Brian Sheerin and Enda McDermott hit back for the Burt men, but two more points from Browne saw the visitors take a 0-6 to 0-3 lead into the break.
Burt were improved in the second half, and with the wind now in their favour dominated most of it but they struggled to convert possession into scores. They hit five wides in the opening ten minutes, and fell four points behind their opponents when Damian Browne notched up his fourth free of the day.
While the full back line of James Lynch, Benny Harrigan and particularly Paul O’Brien performed well in the second half, and Kevin McDermott won his fair share of possession at midfield, the team struggled for large periods with poor decision making leading to possession being lost time and again.
A pointed free from Shane McDaid in the 48th minute narrowed the deficit slightly, but two points in the 53rd and 54th minutes, from Martin Bonner and Kieran Kelly, gave Red Hugh’s a five point cushion.
It was only then, with the game almost lost, that Burt finally found their rhythm and they hit four points in the final seven minutes as they enjoyed their best spell of the game. Joe Boyle converted two frees and Enda McDermott and Paddy McDermott scored from play, but it was too little too late and Red Hugh’s held on for a deserved victory.
Burt’s next match is away to Lifford on Saturday evening. The clubs have also been paired together in the Championship, so both sides will be keen to lay down a marker.

Burt: Ciaran McDermott; James Lynch, Benny Harrigan, Paul O’Brien; Seamie O’Donnell, Mark McGavigan, Paul McHugh; Kevin McDermott, Joe Boyle; Enda McDermott, Paddy McDermott, Dara Grant; Brian Sheerin, Ciaran Dowds, Shane McDaid. Subs: Michael McHugh for S. McDaid (50 mins); Darren McLaughlin for J. Lynch (53 mins).

Red Hugh’s: Troy McCormack; Ciaran Callaghan, Sean Sweeney, James Callaghan; Gerard Melaugh, Kevin Melaugh, Mark Callaghan; Damian Browne, Eugene Browne; Kieran Kelly, Martin Bonner, Michael McMenamin; Richard Key, PJ Gallagher, Peadar McGlinchey.

For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent.
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