Nicky Rackard Cup round 2A: Derry 8-21 Longford 1-14
IT took one look at the Derry teamsheet before the game to recognise that they should not be playing Nicky Rackard Cup hurling.
Longford may well be the weakest of oppositions they could have faced. They travelled with just 19 players and barring the excellent Patrick Walsh, Ray Gavin’s side provided little in the way of a challenge.
And Derry got themselves in this mess through a continued failure to get their best players representing the county. That, it seems, has been well addressed by Collie McGurk.
28 points was the margin of victory in the end, with Brendan Rogers (3), Alan Grant (2), Brian Cassidy (2) and Gerald Bradley netting for the Oak Leafers.
There is youth in the form of Patrick Turner, Ciaran Steele, Conor McAllister, Meehaul McGrath, Darragh Cartin and Brian Cassidy – the last of whom, though, looked like he had nothing to learn.
The Slaughtneil youngster was the best player on the pitch in the opening 35 minutes, hitting 2-4 from play before he was withdrawn at the interval.
For the opening 15 minutes especially, viewing Derry was like watching a football team. They’d get a free behind midfield and there was no thought of raining the ball into the sky aimlessly.
The taker would look, the man inside would run and the ball would hop into his path. Longford, in the early throes, left their full-back line two-against-two and it proved catastrophic.
Brendan Rogers, making his return to the hurling setup after several years on football duty, and Cassidy tormented poor Karl Murray and Thomas Egan with their movement.
Chrissy McKaigue also came in as a half-time substitute and Oak Leaf boss McGurk, himself a former Derry footballer and hurler, was pleased to see them in action.
“Whenever I took the job, my ethos was that I was a dual player myself, and I didn’t see any reason why our best players can’t play both games.
“They can do it for their clubs, there’s no reason they shouldn’t do it for their county.
“To get fellas like Brendan Rogers and Chrissy McKaigue, they’re at the top of their game in Ulster, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be playing.”
Inside nine minutes, Derry had hit the net three times. The first of them was the first score of the game, off a lovely ball into the corner to Darragh Cartin, who crossed for Gerald Bradley. He would have scored only for being chopped down in the act of shooting, and Alan Grant assumed responsibility to lash the penalty home inside the first minute.
Reuben Murray, who started well but soon became overwhelmed by the excellent Sean Cassidy, and Cathal Mullane pointed in response for Longford to make it 1-0 to 0-2, but that was to be as close as they’d get.
Wind-assisted Derry opened the legs and displayed not only an ability far superior to their opponents, but a ruthlessness that suggested Collie McGurk wasn’t lying when he said they’d spent the week blowing the cobwebs of complacency off.
Every chance they got, they ran straight at goal and only for some superb last-ditch defending by Johnny Casey and a couple of saves by Conor Gallagher, the eight-goal haul could have been more.
Brian Cassidy lashed the second into the roof of the net from a tight angle before Gerald Bradley made it 3-1 to 0-2 by finding the top corner after Longford failed to clear an Alan Grant free that fell short.
Rogers punished Longford ‘keeper Gallagher for batting a Grant effort down in front of his goal by scrambling it into the net after 15 minutes.
It was to be the 19th minute before Derry had more points than goals for the first time, leading 4-5 to 0-2, and Brian Cassidy’s beautifully cool finish four minutes into first half stoppage time left the host 5-10 to 0-6 ahead at the interval in front of a paltry crowd on a typically cold day just north of Dungiven.
Only a period of being overly direct and not recognising the Longford sweeper had gone back to protect their goal from a further hammering – which they did to a degree - prevented Derry from having an even wider gap than the 19 points that did separate them as they headed inside for the some heat.
While McKaigue and Brian Óg McGilligan also came into the fray after half-time, it was the third of the replacements, Aaron Kelly, who really caught the eye.
He replaced Cassidy and hit three fine second half points, as well as being involved in a handful of other scores.
Playing into the teeth of the gale, Derry’s use of the ball was very good at times and although Longford were marginally improved in the middle third, the home side still hit 3-11 into a serious wind.
The visitors’ goal came first in the second half when Darryl McDermott made an uncharacteristic flap at a dropping ball and sub Eugene Kiernan was on hand to scramble it across the line.
Seamus Hannon’s huge score from his own 45’ was one of the best all day, and a Patrick Walsh 65’ and John Mulhern point represented a purple patch for the Leinster side.
But that was as good as it got. Great work from Kevin Hinphey set up Rogers for his second goal, and he completed the hat-trick when Aaron Kelly burned the Longford full-back line for pace and squared unselfishly when his own goal was there for the taking.
Gerard Moore was sent off for two quick bookings to make things tougher again on Longford, and the final goal of the Oak Leaf eight came from a fine low strike by Alan Grant after a poor clearance from ‘keeper Gallagher.
If Derry are able to retain that squad of players – to which Ruairi Convery, Ruairi McCloskey, Paddy Henry et al have to come back into – then they would unquestionably be competitive at Christy Ring level.
But they have to get there first. McGurk wasn’t entertaining the suggestion that Saturday afternoon displayed why Derry needs to be hurling back at Christy Ring level.
“I wouldn’t say that, we are where we are and we can’t be disrespectful to other teams, and go out and take things half-heartedly.
“The last couple of weeks we’d shown signs of complacency, so today was important for us to play with a bit of panache and style.
“That’s the aim [to get back to the Christy Ring and be competitive]. It’s not a one-year project. The ultimate aim is to get into the Christy Ring and compete in that, and get out of Division 2B in the League next year.”
MATCH STATS
Derry: D McDermott; P Turner, S Cassidy, D McCloskey; P Cleary (0-1), K Hinphey (0-1), C Steele; C McAllister, O McCloskey; G Bradley (1-2), M McGrath, A Grant (2-5, 1-0pen, 0-4frees); B Rogers (3-2), B Cassidy (2-4), D Cartin (0-1)
Subs: B Óg McGilligan for Steele (h-t), C McKaigue (0-1) for McGrath (h-t), A Kelly (0-3) for B Cassidy (h-t), E McGuckin (0-1) for Bradley (55), G McCormick for Rogers (59)
Yellow card: O McCloskey (58)
Longford: C Gallagher; C McLoughlin, K Murray, T Egan; G Moore, D Duggan, J Casey; P Walsh (0-8, 0-6frees, 0-1 65), P Barden; J Mulhern (0-1), S Hannon (0-2), C Keegan; S O’Brien, R Murray (0-2), C Mullane (0-1)
Subs: E Kiernan (1-0) for Mullane (12), A Sheridan for Barden (52), E Kavanagh for Murray (67), A Sorohan for T Egan (67)
Yellow cards: K Murray (25), R Murray (30), C Keegan (31), G Moore (49, 60)
Red card: G Moore (60, second yellow)
Referee: J Connors (Donegal)
