GLENFIN HAD TO call on every sinew of their experience to overcome Burt at a rain-soaked Scarvey this evening.
Glenfin 1-08 Burt 1-06
Paddy O’Connor kicked 1-5 as the An Gaeltacht Lár men defeated a Burt side that refused to throw in the towel when all seemed lost.
Glenfin, who have developed a real knack of winning these play-off fixtures have now completed the Great Escape.
Liam Ward’s men looked consigned to Division 3 just a month ago, but wins over Naomh Columba, Cloughaneely and Naomh Muire in their final three games gave them hope.
Handed a second chance of survival, by way of a play-off against an up-and-coming Burt, Glenfin did enough on a night that was barely playable, let alone conducive to being a spectacle.
That said, the sodden participants served up a decent encounter in the circumstances.
Glenfin started off every bit the side that was scrapping for its life and they raced into a 1-4 to no score lead by the quarter-hour mark.
O’Connor was on fire, scoring 1-3 of that tally.
Kevin McGlynn gave them the lead when he took a pass from Stephen McGlynn and sailed over in the ninthe minue.
Stephen McGlynn gave O’Connor the pass for a well-taken goal and the wind was firmly in Glenfin’s sails when O’Connor added three points in quick sucession.
Christopher McDermott, Mark Coyle and Joe Boyle pulled Burt into it and, after a magnificent Gerard Ward point for Glenfin, the Hibernian Park men got in for a goal.
Coyle fed Conor Harkin and he slammed past Andrew Walsh to bring them to within two at the interval, where Glenfin led 1-5 to 1-3.
A superb interchange, involving Stephen Ward, Daniel McGlynn and O’Connor, just after the change of ends, concluded with O’Connor being denied by Kevin McDermott.
After O’Connor sailed over another free, Glenfin hit the score of the game when Ward polished off a brilliant team move that saw the ball change through Gary Dorrian, Malachy Martin, Ward and Daniel McGlynn before Ward slotted over.
Harkin and Coyle (free) inched Burt closer and while Glenfin were on tenterhooks late in the evening, they held onto their lot – and their reaction at the final shrill of Enda McFeely’s whistle told the story of a side that knew how close they’d been to another ending.
Glenfin: Andrew Walsh; Martin O’Donnell, Ronan Gallagher, Daniel Harkin; Gary Dorrian, Frank McGlynn, Jason Morrow; Paddy Costello, Stephen Ward; Stephen Carr, Paddy O’Connor (1-5, 3f), Daniel McGlynn; Kevin McGlynn (0-1), Gerard Ward (0-2), Stephen McGlynn. Subs: Malachy Martin for Carr (34), Michael McGlynn for G.Ward (53).
Burt: Kevin McDermott; Stephen O’Donnell, Ronan McDermott, Martin Donaghy; Darren Gallagher, Mickey McCann, Paul McHugh; Joe Boyle (0-2, 2f), Conor Harkin (1-1); David O’Donnell, Mark Coyle (0-2, 1f), Sean McHugh; Niall Campbell, Ciaran Dowds, Christopher McDermott (0-1). Subs: Darragh Grant for D.O’Donnell (35), Stephen Gillespie for Dowds (58), David O’Donnell for Boyle (58).
Referee: Enda McFeely (St Mary’s, Convoy).
Tags: