FOR almost all of the 70 minutes in Armagh on Sunday, Damian Barton stood tight to the touchline with one arm raised, index finger pointed exactly where he wanted Derry to go.
The Newbridge man was pointing the way to goal, directing both his forwards to move inside and those out the park to use the ball early when it was on. But it was their ability to deviate from the one-dimensional, early ball gameplan that ultimately saw them tear away from Cavan with a blistering 15 minutes before half-time.
Ryan Bell’s penalty put Derry 1-4 to 0-4 ahead and, once they started to run in numbers, the blue shirts became overwhelmed. Barton’s men led by 1-10 to 0-6 at the break and Cavan never looked close to clawing it back.
“Yes, I’m pleased,” smiled the Oak Leaf supremo in the fading Armagh light.
“It took us a wee while to get going. The penalty was the decisive score, and the point that we tagged on at that stage. We created opportunities in the second-half that we didn’t take, hitting six or seven wides and a few into the ‘keeper’s hands. In terms of progression, it was nice. There were other lads came in today, particularly the university guys, and acquitted themselves well.
“We mixed our game up well. Some of the boys started to break through the middle third, which is very important in today’s game. We had some great angled runs. There were many positives and it was good to go in with that cushion at half-time.”
The win, coupled with Tyrone’s strong second-half display against Fermanagh, sets up what will already be a third meeting of the old rivals before the end of January. There was a pre-match school of thought that both Derry and Cavan - who play them in the first round of the National League - would rather avoid that fate. But while Barton is putting no great significance on whether the McKenna Cup returns to Derry for the first time since 2011, he will be seeking further progress on Saturday night.
“It’s a final. The fact that it’s Tyrone is of little relevance. We’ll meet them several times, but the expectation is that we’ll meet them maybe more than four times in the year," he said.
“I’m not particularly worried who we play. It’s more how we play and how we can develop players. Tyrone are obviously a benchmark for a lot of teams in terms of some of their qualities. We’re getting there. Cavan are a damn good side as well. I’m very happy with today’s performance.
“If we have a performance, I’m not worried about a trophy. If we have a performance, everything else will take care of itself. Tyrone might have something to say about that.”
His counterpart Terry Hyland didn’t enjoy such a fruitful afternoon. It looked, in the early minutes, that his side’s defensive setup and swift counter-attacking play were going to cause Derry problems. But once the winners worked it out tactically, things became a struggle. In the end, fine individual displays from Ciarán Brady, Conor Moynagh and Killian Clarke (once he moved to midfield at half-time) were pretty much all that was left.
“Our first-half performance was very, very poor,” said Hyland.
“We had a lot of elementary mistakes, handling errors and the like. You have days like that. It wasn’t a case of one or two players, it was all over the pitch nearly. The second-half, we competed evenly enough, but there was too big a gap in it by half-time. Our boys kind of stood off them in the first-half, I don’t know why. Fair play to Derry, they kicked some fantastic scores. Their shooting was top drawer, kicking points from 50 yards out.”
But there was a not-too-disappointed look on his face when asked if missing out on meeting Tyrone eight days prior to their National League meeting was really that bad an outcome.
“There is the element of that, having Tyrone and Derry in the first two rounds of the league, so we’ll be meeting them a lot in the next few weeks. But at the same time, hell, we’re in it to play football.”
