WHEN THEY finally drew a breath to reflect, Milford and Burt were quite content to have another joust for the Cathal McLaughlin Cup to look forward to.
The Michael Murphy Sports & Leisure Intermediate Championship final was on a knife edge throughout and remained there even after Michael McShane, the referee, called for the ball.
Burt, Milford must play it again as Intermediate final ends in stalemate
He called for it just after Joe Boyle pulled a late free wide of the mark. It was a chance for Burt to win it, but the angles were always against the Burt man and would have favoured a left-footed kicker.
Burt, through Conor Harkin’s points, salvaged a draw having taken the fight to Milford, the raging pre-match favourites and they go again on Saturday, back at O’Donnell Park, at 4.30pm, following the senior championship relegation play-off between Glenfin and Killybegs (3pm).
Picture caption: Action from the Intermediate final between Milford and Burt. Picture by Geraldine Diver.
The problem with the replay on Saturday means the victor will be in Ulster Intermediate action the following day with Breda, the Down champions, to visit Letterkenny on Sunday afternoon.
[adrotate group=”53″]“We’re not looking anywhere near Ulster,” Milford manager Danny O’Donnell insisted.
“Being the champion of your county is the priority and Ulster will look after itself.”
His counterpart concurred.
“To us, Ulster is a bonus,” Ronan McLaughlin, the Burt boss, said.
“It’s no different to us.”
[adrotate group=”81″]You get the feeling they could take Ulster or leave it. The Intermediate crown – and a place in next year’s senior championship – is the prize they really crave.
Milford needed a goal from Cathal McGettigan, one that had a stroke of good fortune about it, to ignite them in the first half, but three substitutions at half-time saw O’Donnell shake things up.
And when Milford moved three in front, it seemed as if they’d got their act in order, only to be denied by Burt’s comeback.
O’Donnell said: “It looked like we had ourselves into a winning position. We should have hung onto the lead. Burt never let up the fight and came back at us. They deserved the draw and bring on the replay.
[adrotate group=”38″]“Everyone talks about luck, but you need luck to win Championships. We didn’t cope with them in the first half. We made changes in key places at half-time and they made a difference.”
McLaughlin reckoned it was a ‘fair enough result’, too. The possibility of playing a replay midweek wasn’t open as Burt players Ronan McDermott and Christopher McDermott are based in England.
The Hibernian Park side, who have already put Cloughaneely and Naomh Columba out of the running, are confident again of upsetting the odds.
[adrotate group=”85″]Their defensive system proved a tough nut to crack and came within a whisker of delivering the silverware.
McLaughlin said: “People will say that we blew it, but Damian Dowds was telling me that we’ve beaten Milford four out of the last six times that we’ve played them.
“Danny has done a great job with them, but we’ll be here on the pitch next weekend again and they’ll have to find a way through us.”
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