Football

Derry silence doubters with comeback win over Cavan

&nbsp;&nbsp;Derry's&nbsp;Emmett McGuckin celebrates scoring against Cavan<br />Picture by Philip Walsh
  Derry's Emmett McGuckin celebrates scoring against Cavan
Picture by Philip Walsh
  Derry's Emmett McGuckin celebrates scoring against Cavan
Picture by Philip Walsh

All-Ireland SFC Qualifying round 3A: Cavan 0-18 Derry 1-17

NOBODY expected this. Not after that horrific day in Celtic Park two months ago. Derry were supposed to be long gone by now, a pale footnote in this year’s All-Ireland Qualifiers.

Damian Barton’s managerial reputation was supposed to be in tatters by now. Not fit for purpose. Out of his depth. Everyone fully expected to see the image of the Derry manager trudging off a field somewhere in the midlands, humbled by a minnow.

And it would be raining heavily too, just to add to the overall misery.

Instead, Barton was punching the air beneath late afternoon sunshine on Saturday and bear-hugging Tony Scullion who lay on the grass at the final whistle smiling up at the blue sky.

This was raw emotion. This was living.

Upsetting the odds by beating a fancied Cavan side in their own backyard in a round three Qualifier represented vindication.

Derry’s second half comeback to defeat Meath a week earlier was good.

But this victory was on a different level.

And for those brief few moments after the final whistle, Barton and Scullion were clearly on a different planet.

Pluto perhaps.

When Scullion climbed to his feet he couldn’t stop smiling, while Barton was whisked away to the press box for a post-match radio interview.

Since being unveiled in Owenbeg late last year, Barton has spoken about trying to change the culture of the Oak Leaf county. To get Derry competitive again, everything had to change.

But the team’s 3-14 to 0-12 capitulation to neighbours Tyrone back in May meant a radical cultural shift in the county seemed pie in the sky.

But if there’s to be a revolution in the county, then a few more seeds were sown in Breffni Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Derry players, to a man, deserve immense credit, not just for their hard-earned two-point victory over Cavan, but for showing they could cope with the adversity of the Tyrone loss and come back stronger.

That was Derry’s real triumph – not what the scoreboard read on Saturday.

But here’s how it played out. Derry trailed 0-11 to 1-4 at the break and had been completely outplayed by their hosts.

They were 0-12 to 1-6 behind after 47 minutes and were still four adrift on 55 minutes.

After Cavan’s surefooted goalkeeper Raymond Galligan thumped over his third second half free with 12 minutes remaining, Derry were still three behind.

But momentum was building for the visitors.

Between the 60th minute and full-time, Derry out-scored Cavan 0-8 to 0-3.

It could and should have been a bigger margin had Galligan not denied substitute Emmett Bradley a goal with a fine save.

By the time Barton reached the changing room he was talked out, so he sent out his trusted lieutenant Brian McGuckin to speak with press reporters.

The Tyrone man captured the mood perfectly.

Two months ago Derry were rock bottom. Spool forward to the present...

“After the Tyrone debacle you could understand why we [the Derry management team] were getting criticised,” said McGuckin.

“It was a watershed moment for us. Collectively, we were all devastated because everything that we’d prepared and planned for that day, it just didn’t happen.

“It looked as if we’d gathered a crowd of boys around the Brandywell and threw them out onto the pitch.

“[But] Thankfully the boys have bought into it and they’ve put in huge commitment. The attitude, energy and the enthusiasm of every single player has been quite astonishing from that day [against Tyrone], and it has started to pay dividends.”

The Derry players rightly deserve the lion’s share of the praise – but Barton and his backroom team played a canny hand in the second half against Cavan.

For starters, their substitutions worked an absolute treat. The diminutive Niall Toner, introduced in the 48th minute, was the pick of the replacements.

He hit back-to-back scores in the 60th and 63rd minutes and popped over another in the 71st minute. Each of his points raised the roof of the main stand.

The other subs also helped steer this game in Derry’s favour.

Every personnel change seemed to energise Derry while Cavan, reduced to 14 men after Fergal Flanagan was red-carded on the stroke of half-time, simply couldn’t live with their opponents’ running power and insatiable desire in the second half.

Chrissy McKaigue’s redeployment to midfield to nullify Gearoid McKiernan’s significant influence was also crucial to Derry’s comeback.

“The bench was key last week as well,” acknowledged McGuckin.

“One thing that has been created among the squad is serious competitiveness. We put 15 players on the pitch at the start and we bring players on who we think can give us impetus at certain stages of the game.

“Thankfully it worked in our favour again – you had obviously Enda Lynn coming on, Niall Loughlin, Niall Toner – all our subs that came on did their bit.”

Derry’s first half display on Saturday wasn’t just as woeful as the one they posted against Meath seven days earlier.

But it was still pretty inept.

In the opening 20 minutes, Cavan ate up every one of Thomas Mallon’s kick-outs. Tomas Corr and Gearoid McKiernan lorded midfield for the home side that allowed the excellent Dara McVeety to fire over two early points.

Worse still, Derry allowed Cavan’s danger men into the scoring zone far too easily, with Martin Reilly and McKiernan the main beneficiaries.

Derry looked a beaten docket, particularly when the lively James Kielt was black-carded in the 24th minute.

Their saving grace in a disastrous first half was Emmett McGuckin rising above Rory Dunne to punch Ciaran McFaul’s high ball into the Cavan net after 10 minutes.

“Obviously they were dominating us on our kick-outs,” added McGuckin.

“They were winning the breaks... but it was addressed on the pitch and with 10 or 15 minutes before the half we started working on shorter kick-outs.

“And putting Chrissy McKaigue on [Gearoid] McKiernan was a big, big plus for us. He did a phenomenal job on him. Certainly in the second half we put all wrongs of the first half right.”

Cavan’s prospects of reaching round four of the Qualifiers took a major hit after sweeper Fergal Flanagan received a straight red card for aiming a punch at Mark Lynch’s midriff in first half stoppage-time.

Cavan boss Terry Hyland said: “When you’re playing a team who are your peers you’re always going to be in trouble when you go a man down because you have to change the whole dynamic of your set-up.

“Fergal had been playing sweeper and was playing well up until his sending-off. It changed the dynamics of the game as far as we were concerned but we were still there with five minutes of the game to go.”

With a man less, Cavan began to struggle on their kick-outs in the second half and relied heavily on Galligan’s long-range frees to stay ahead.

Mark Lynch, Danny Heavron and Toner kept the scoreboard ticking over for the visitors and they eventually drew level thanks to a 64th minute 45 from substitute Niall Loughlin.

At that point, Derry weren’t going to be denied.

Mark Lynch, who never put a foot wrong all afternoon and used his energy wisely throughout, put Derry ahead two minutes later.

McVeety replied in Cavan’s next attack – but the home side were clearly wilting when Emmett McGuckin skipped around Rory Dunne to put Derry 1-14 to 0-16 ahead entering five minutes of stoppage-time.

A brilliant catch from Ciaran McFaul enabled Enda Lynn to give Derry a two-point lead as Cavan’s well had run dry.

McGuckin said: “Whenever we got to within a point of them we had momentum at that stage and we had the right players on the pitch at that time, players with a lot of energy, players who could take men on and there were men on the shoulder...”

Even in the midst of Derry’s incessant push in the second half, Conor Moynagh, Dara McVeety, Cian Mackey and Martin Reilly put up gallant resistance.

“I felt there were long periods of the game where we were dominant,” said Hyland, “but we probably didn’t put a big enough gap between us. The Derry goal in the first half probably kept them in it for a long time.

“We had opportunities but we just didn’t put them over. But, at the end of the day, Derry finished the stronger.”

Undoubtedly, Cavan had invested huge emotional energy in trying to reach their first Ulster final since 2001.

They tried to glue the pieces together after their heavy semi-final replay defeat to Tyrone but when they stepped on the accelerator on Saturday, the energy levels just weren’t there.

“We feel we’ve a bunch of guys that are good enough to compete in Ulster finals and it was hard to lift lads after that [Tyrone loss],” Hyland admitted.

“But we were playing an Ulster team here. In terms of getting up for the game it was never a problem and we started quite strongly. It was just one of those days when you get squeezed out because of your mistakes – and I don’t mean the sending-off, I’m talking about being a bit slicker on the finishing side of things.”

While Hyland reflects on whether to remain for a sixth season with his native Cavan next season, Derry advance deeper into the Qualifiers.

“We were hit with a bitter blow against Tyrone but we’ve been given a second chance and thankfully we’ve taken that chance,” said McGuckin.

“There are a few fabulous victories behind us now and we’ll prepare for the next day.”

As for Derry’s pitch celebrations at the end, well, you just had to be there.

MATCH STATS


Cavan: R Galligan (0-3 frees); K Brady, R Dunne, P Faulkner; F Flanagan, C Moynagh (0-1), M Reilly (0-2); T Corr, G McKiernan (0-4, 0-3 frees); D McVeety (0-3), M Argue (0-1), K Clarke; C Mackey (0-1), J Brady (0-1 free), S Johnston (0-1 free) Subs: N Murray for M Argue (h/t), C Brady for P Faulkner (46), J McLoughlin for K Brady (53), T Hayes for S Johnston (58), G Smyth (0-1) for T Corr (67), L Buchannan for C Mackey (71) Yellow card: S Johnston (19) Red card: F Flanagan (35)


Derry: T Mallon; G McKinless, C McKaigue, K McKaigue; C McFaul, B Rodgers, C Mullan; C McAtamney (0-1), N Holly; D Heavron (0-1), C Bradley (0-1), E Brown; J Kielt (0-1), E McGuckin (1-1), M Lynch (0-7, 0-4 frees) Subs: N Loughlin (0-1, 45) for E Brown (31), N Toner (0-3) for C Bradley (48), E Bradley for C McAtamney (51), L McGoldrick for B Rodgers (60), N Forrester for C McFaul (71) Yellow card: C McFaul (32) Black cards: J Kielt replaced by E Lynn (0-1) (24), G McKinless (75, no replacement)


Referee: E Kinsella (Laois)

All-Ireland SFC


Qualifying Round 3A


Cavan 0-18 Derry 1-17


Sligo 1-13 Clare 2-17

Round 3B


Longford 1-6 Cork 2-9


Mayo 2-17 Kildare 0-14

Round 4A (July 23)


Galway/Roscommon v Derry/Clare


Tipperary v Derry/Clare

Round 4B (July 30-August 1)


Westmeath v Mayo/Cork


Donegal v Mayo/Cork

Draw for round four takes place today