PERHAPS the fact Derry came close to a shock victory, yet never once lead in this game, tells its own hard luck story.
A well rehearsed and excellently executed defensive game-plan was let down by some poor finishing, some baffling substitutions, and a lack of experience at key stages. Derry certainly didn’t come up short in the physical stakes as Neil Gallagher found out when Niall Holly hit him harder than a Mike Tyson uppercut.
As we look back on what could have been for the Oak Leafers, here are my top five talking points:
1 DERRY SUBSTITUTIONS
I’d be a fan of Brian McIvor, but in management terms he had a really bad day at the office on Saturday night.
Managers, just like players make mistakes and it is usually with the benefit of hindsight these judgements are made. As the cliche goes, 'Players win games, managers lose them'. But at the time Derry made three of their subs, I found myself really questioning what the logic could possibly be.
Seán Leo McGoldrick, the catalyst for every single Derry counter-attack and the creator of so many openings, including the early goal chance, was the first to go. Rory Gallagher, at that point, breathed a huge sigh of relief. I actually felt Donegal should have looked at man-marking Seán Leo such was his positive influence on the game.
On a night when Donegal looked vulnerable, Derry took off two of their most dangerous forwards and target men in Eoin Bradley and Cailean O’Boyle. The latter in particular was a real menace at full-forward, scoring two points, and to withdraw that goal scoring threat and replace him with a small playmaker who had already been subbed himself, was a very peculiar move.
Derry needed a goal to snatch the game in the dying embers but, ironically, their two best goal-scorers had been subbed.
2 DERRY'S GAME-PLAN
Everyone knew Derry would set-up with a well organised defensive screen, making them very difficult to break down.
What people may not have been expecting was they would go more route one when the opportunity arose. In the very first minute, Skinner hit O'Boyle on the diagonal and it worked. The problem was they maybe just didn’t believe in it enough nor did they persevere with it at a time when the game was in the melting pot. I felt that, on occasions, Derry had created the opening for the shot or fisted point but, instead, the player delayed and turned back into trouble.
Derry got their match-ups spot on and they had some fine displays in defence. Their kick-out strategy went wrong on a few occasions, but Thomas Mallon redeemed himself with an exceptional save.
I’m not sure the black cards dished out to Brendan Rodgers and Ciarán McFall had a significant impact on the result, but those moments of indiscipline were disruptive at a time when Derry needed the play to flow. That said, McFall’s tackle wasn’t quite as bad as it looked and, by definition, it certainly wasn’t a black card offence.
3 DONEGAL’S GAME-PLAN
Even though they won the game in the end, Donegal’s game-plan was largely ineffective.
When they went long to Murphy, McBrearty and Gallagher, Chrissy McCaigue, Dermot McBride and Brendan Rodgers dealt with it. When they ran at Derry, it lacked the usual penetration. Frank McGlynn and Karl Lacey are key to this, but they didn’t once break that line of red and white. Christy Toye and Ryan McHugh tried hard and had some success but, really, the winning of the game came down to two things.
Despite some bad wides and poor shot selection at times, Donegal’s ability to kick points from distance was a huge advantage. Murphy, McFadden, Mac Niallis and one or two others hit scores from long range. When the same opportunities arose for the Oak Leafers, they didn’t capitalise with the same precision.
The second key thing was the breathing space they gained from Martin Reilly’s goal. The impressive Niall Holly had just pulled the game back to a point after a great score off his weaker foot. But Donegal went up the field and hit 1-1 without reply.
When the heat came on, I also thought Paul Durcan hit some clever kickouts. The one where he feigns to go long but then slices it to the right half-back/forward area was used to great effect at least three times in the second half. If the big Four Masters man was a chef, that would be his signature dish.
4 SKINNER OUT THE FIELD
I felt in the lead up to this game that, in order to stretch the Donegal defence to its maximum, Cailean O’Boyle and Eoin Bradley needed to stay close to goal. Keep your instinctive scorers, your size, your ball winners in an area where they can do damage.
It was clear from very early on the space was there to play the quick ball inside, evidenced by a couple of 40-yard Kevin Johnson kick-passes. You might ask why it was there on Saturday night for Derry yet Armagh couldn’t get a ball to their full-forward line for love nor money. The answer to this is simple: Mark McHugh. In the Armagh game, he played the sweeper role to perfection, cutting out all the angles for any quality ball inside. On Saturday, night he didn’t start and, as a result, Donegal’s defensive system wasn’t as effective and looked vulnerable at times to the early ball.
After about 15 minutes, 'Skinner' pulled out the pitch and began to fulfill a role that doesn’t suit his attributes or that of the team. It could be argued the attention he drew left more room for O’Boyle, but the fact remained that Derry’s most dangerous forward wasn’t making the impact he was capable of.
The withdrawal of Bradley and O’Boyle later in the game removed that threat immediately as Rory Gallagher breathed another huge sigh of relief.
5 BETTER TO WIN PLAYING POORLY
Donegal produced an almost flawless performance against Armagh on a day when practically everything went right for them.
In essence, they bared their soul for Derry to see and the Oak Leafers prepared diligently for everything they could throw at them. In reality, Donegal probably aren’t as hot as they looked against McGeeneys charges nor are they as poor as they looked on Saturday night.
Rory Gallagher will be a relieved man but, deep down, he will also be very happy as he will have no problem refocusing his troops ahead of an Ulster final clash with Monaghan.
With five finals in five years for Donegal, the Ulster Championship has only been won four times in 40 years by a team coming through the preliminary round. When Rory stepped into Jim’s shoes, no-one said it was going to be easy.
