Football

Neil Forester: Derry's failure to close out games is a worry

Derry's Neil Forester moves in on Gary Sice of Galway in the Allianz Football League Division 2 Round 5 match at St Jarlath's Park in Tuam, Co Galway on March 19 2017
Derry's Neil Forester moves in on Gary Sice of Galway in the Allianz Football League Division 2 Round 5 match at St Jarlath's Park in Tuam, Co Galway on March 19 2017 Derry's Neil Forester moves in on Gary Sice of Galway in the Allianz Football League Division 2 Round 5 match at St Jarlath's Park in Tuam, Co Galway on March 19 2017

A sombre and visibly disappointed Neil Forester posed the rhetorical question after their Allianz Football League defeat by Cork on Sunday: “Where do I start?

The dejected Derry defender went on: “Very frustrating! We shot nine wides and had three efforts, one by me, at the posts blocked down and that about sums it up.

“They took their scores and we didn’t. They were very good from frees.”

And the Steelstown man was blunt as he continued his assessment of what went wrong against Cork at Celtic Park.

“We simply did not score enough. We were focussed on not conceding goals but conceding 20 points as far too much,'' he added.

“We put ourselves in a good position going into the last 15 minutes when the second goal brought us level and we had a good momentum but we then died a death.

“We conceded a few frees and they pointed two ‘45’s’ and that killed us and we just could not recover.”

He continued, “Conceding 20 points! Crazy to be conceding that much!

“We will just have to go back and look at the tape because consistently over the course of the League we have been conceding too much.

“Us defenders have to look at that or maybe we have to manage the game that wee bit better, be clever out the field in what we are doing.

“Maybe we are a bit too naive.

“We are playing well in spells but we simply cannot sustain it over the 70 minutes."

Whatever has caused their failure to close out games Derry must find the answer immediately otherwise they find themselves in Division Three next season.

They must beat Fermanagh, and hope that Cork beat Down, if they are to stay in Division Two.

Fresh from their 2-10 to 0-20 win over Derry Cork manager Peadar Healy is keen to finish off their League campaign with victory “over Down at home to build some momentum.''

Fermanagh meanwhile must pick themselves up and regroup after a 3-15 to 0-6 thrashing by Meath at the weekend.

But Derry's failure to close out games seems to be an issue admits Forester.

“We are always in the melting pot but we always seem to fade away in the last 10 minutes,'' said Forester.

“Last week that happened against Galway, and against Down as it did today, so there seems to be an issue there.

“I don’t know if it is a concentration thing or not. I cannot just put my finger on what the story is. I am not too sure!”

It was suggested that there was a lack of consistency over the spread of games, that Derry had been forced into making a raft of changes from the start of the season for a variety of reasons.

“It is great having some of the players back but at the same time that leads to chopping and changing. And it takes a wee while to settle. It is very frustrating,'' he said.

“You want to keep the boys together and get used to playing with each other, to be comfortable with each other and be able to shout instructions that we need to shout.

“Maybe we are a bit too timid, a bit too naïve.”