ANY player who wins four kick-outs in a game of football should be very satisfied with their performance.
Five is great.
Six is excellent.
Seven is amazing.
Eight is...
Eight is off the charts. Yet, this is precisely the number of times that Benny Heron won the ball at midfield against Kildare.
But the Ballinascreen clubman downplayed his performance. Instead, Heron deflected the praise towards Derry goalkeeper, Thomas Mallon who repeatedly found Heron with his precision re-starts.
"To be honest, it wasn't very difficult," said the Derry half-forward.
"If the space is there, you make the run and Thomas' kick-outs are that accurate he will pick you out.
"you are always confident that if you do make that hard run, he will pick you out. Maybe I got on a few more handier than in previous games.
"The space was just there for some reason and it worked well for us."
Although Heron was Derry's best ball-winner, he clearly doesn't feel under pressure to produce that type of performance in every outing.
"If you look around our team there are a lot of boys making those runs for kick-outs. Perhaps I got a few handy ones.
"Patsy and Fergal down the middle are well capable of winning primary possession and with Enda Lynn and Ciaran McFaul making runs as well, it probably makes it easier for Thomas as well."
Apart from impressing with his exploits at midfield, Heron's play-making was a key feature of the game.
Always keen to hit a pass the instant he received possession, it was notable that Derry's inside forwards started to make their runs immediately after Heron won the ball. It's one of the hallmarks of a team that's beginning to gel.
"Players are starting to know each other's game now," said Heron. "We are working hard in training.
"Everyone is putting in the same effort in and pushing in the right direction. Everyone has confidence in one another and you know when a team-mate has the ball he will give you a good pass if you make the run."
While there were many laudable aspects about Derry's performance against Kildare, they ended the game on a sour note. Two sloppy goals conceded in injury-time took the gloss off an otherwise fine performance. Despite leaking these two goals, the Oak Leafers still won by five points.
"Maybe we did take our foot off the pedal and we switched off in the end but thankfully we had enough of a lead and it didn't cost us," said Heron.
"Another day we could have ended up drawing or losing that match and it would have been heart-breaking."
Despite his fantastic display against the Lilywhites, Heron doesn't consider himself an automatic selection in the team that will probably contest a League semi-final in Croke Park.
"There is a lot of competition for places. The likes of James Kielt, Declan Mullen and Ciaran McGoldrick are all forwards who were on the bench today so there is competition for all places now.
"Week after week you just have to keep producing performances or else you will be sitting on the bench or not even making the panel, There are a lot of good players at the minute who are not even making the 26. "Everyone is pushing along together and you can't rest now, you just have to keep on pushing week after week."