Seventh SHC title ‘the sweetest yet’ for Burt stalwart Stephen Gillespie 

For many years 32-year-old Stephen Gillespie has been the lynchpin of Burt senior hurling teams.

And he has now won seven county championships in total. But Saturday’s shock victory over the three-in-a-row chasing Setanta by 3-16 to 1-18 is definitely the sweetest.

Nobody had given the Inishowen club the slightest chance against a star-studded Cross side.

“The pre-match predictions did not matter to us because we knew ourselves how good Setanta are,” said Gillespie.

“They are a great side but we never doubted ourselves and inside our circle we knew we had the players to stand up and be counted.”

Liam McKinney’s showing on the day was brilliant and his 1-11 was an obvious highlight for the winners. 

“Liam is phenomenal, we have some of the top players in the county and we knew we were always going to win here today and we are not finished yet.

“We have a very good defence and it held off their forwards who are county players but the way our forwards tackled back today was a huge help as well.

“Conor Gartland and Dara Grant were excellent in the middle of the pitch, and he dropped back and cleaned up so all we had to do was to get the ball and knock it away.

“We have young lads who are coming on with Ciaran Porter and Kevin Curran showing up well and there were a few lads on the bench who did not start, who were very disappointed.”

When asked what this great win meant to the Inishowen outfit, he said: “Six years without a title is a long time and it was a kind of a famine for a club like Burt.

“We lost the final by a few points to Setanta two years ago and not to get to the final last year was also very disappointing and those factors were definitely motivators.

“But Donegal hurling is on the up and Setanta won the Ulster Intermediate title last year and we fancy ourselves to do well in the competition this year.

“Donegal won the Nickey Rackard Cup this year and that success was a big help to Burt and has encouraged our lads to try and get on the county team.

“Listen to that crowd cheering there, hurling is everything to Burt and to me.”

“I have seven county championships now and this one is certainly the sweetest as they are getting harder and harder to win so today means everything to me.”