Sport

High-flying Derry have to develop their game-plan to win at the very top level

Kenny Archer

Kenny Archer

Kenny is the deputy sports editor and a Liverpool FC fan.

Derry Brendan Rogers with Odhran McFadden Ferry of Donegal in the Ulster SFC Final at Clones on Sunday. <br />Picture Margaret McLaughlin
Derry Brendan Rogers with Odhran McFadden Ferry of Donegal in the Ulster SFC Final at Clones on Sunday.
Picture Margaret McLaughlin
Derry Brendan Rogers with Odhran McFadden Ferry of Donegal in the Ulster SFC Final at Clones on Sunday.
Picture Margaret McLaughlin

DERRY are Ulster champions. As a Down man, how could you not be jealous? Putting myself in the players' boots, does it matter how you achieve an Ulster Championship medal or indeed an All-Ireland Celtic Cross?

The record books will show that the Oak Leafers are the 2022 Ulster kingpins and, really, that's all that matters.

When operating in a high level environment, I don't care who or what you are, you want and you need to be pushed.

That's exactly what Jim McGuinness did in Donegal, the same with Jim Gavin in Dublin and now Rory Gallagher in Derry.

Players will never thank a manager for being his best mate, nor for going easy on them from a physical or mental perspective.

Players will thank a manager for driving them to success – helping them to achieve their dream.

From a manager's perspective you have to be ruthless – in a nice way.

As a player in a high performance environment you want a manager to fulfil his side of the bargain so that if you give every part of you, you have a chance.

Getting tactics right, getting the training and preparation timed appropriately and ensuring there are no short-cuts taken are all important parts of the overall package.

The relationship between a manager and players is critical and Rory Gallagher obviously gets this.

But the intensity with which you approach an inter-county plan can only last a certain period.

The fire will eventually burn out like it did in Donegal (2011-2014) and Dublin, who burned extraordinarily brightly for nearly a decade.

Derry have been able to arrive quite quickly from a low base and deliver silverware through last Sunday's Anglo-Celt win.

What they need to do now is to strike while this iron is hot and make good on their plan.

Last Sunday's was a poor spectacle from an entertainment perspective.

I have witnessed a fair bit of poor football over the years from an entertainment viewpoint. The 2011 All-Ireland semi-final between Dublin and Donegal stands out in that regard.

I was in the Hogan Stand that day and the game was lit up by two sets of supporters ready to fight as both had become embroiled in the aesthetics of the affair. After the first punch was thrown, the stewards quickly stepped in and calmed affairs.

On the field, the conditions didn't help what was a very intentional tactical approach adopted by Donegal.

Dublin scraped past Donegal that day, but McGuinness will have felt that the end justified the means and, 12 months later, Donegal would be the Ulster and All-Ireland champions.

If you think that Gallagher hasn't used this same template in Derry's plan, you would be naive.

While many counties saw Covid as an inconvenience, it appears that the Derry team used their time wisely – which the players deserve huge credit for, by the way – in building fantastic athleticism and a firm foundation on which to compete against the top teams.

The Ulster final may have been a terrible spectacle, but the scenes during and after it were hair-raising.

The Oak Leafers have a collective team ethos that appears to be greater than the sum of their parts.

When you go through the Derry team, you may not have an equivalent of Conor McManus, Michael Murphy or David Clifford, but they have a very proficient and effective group who are willing to go to war in each and every match.

This makes them particularly dangerous.

Under Gallagher these Derry players will feel like they can win an All-Ireland title. With Ulster done, expectations will naturally weigh heavier.

Given the quality of the opposition who will qualify via the back door, a quarter-final in Croke Park will ask more questions of Gallagher's team.

Donegal haven't gone away, but it's difficult to know where they are.

Is there another All-Ireland win in this team? I am not so sure.

They will have anticipated Derry's tactics, hence why they counter-acted the Oak Leaf in a mirror image.

Donegal, as the more experienced side, should have imposed themselves on Derry much more.

On the day, however, sometimes you have to accept that things aren't meant to be.

Brendan Rogers (left was absolutely immense for the victors and to score three points and still negate Michael Murphy's influence on the game was a credit to his team and his own personal performance. Winning teams need such leaders and Rogers epitomised all of Derry's fighting qualities.

The opening goal gave Derry a huge lift and indeed that spirit to believe they could win.

In a tactically chaotic game, such as the Ulster final, getting your nose in front is so important.

It allows you to absorb a bit more pressure and hit teams on the counter-attack when more gaps are appearing.

Derry will continue to play with 15 players behind the ball and

counter-attack. The Oak Leafers will feed off opposition mistakes and punish these in turn.

A significant number of commentators and GAA fans will have a great deal of goodwill toward an emerging team who hadn't secured a provincial title since 1998 until last Sunday.

However, Derry will need to develop their gameplan – just as Donegal did – if they want to bag the Sam Maguire.

Kerry and Dublin are both different animals and, after the routine nature of their provincial title wins last weekend against second division opposition, both these heavy-hitters will ask a different and a more serious set of questions of these Derry's players.

Derry could, of course, drag both sides into a real battle of attrition and ensure that space is limited around the scoring zones.

However, the Dubs and Kerry have a huge amount of quality up front and they will back themselves to play around this shield in Croke Park.

Ironically, while Derry's kick-out strategy is sufficient for now, Odhran Lynch is still learning his way around these big games and as such, at this stage, the better teams will be able to pen Derry back in their own half.

Rory Gallagher has a natural enthusiasm for the game and, in the words of the great Bill Shankly: 'You are nothing without it'.

He conveys it to his players and this batch of Derry players are living off it.

Regardless of how success is achieved, and even for a moment forgetting the playing style, there will be a huge lift for this panel of players within the GAA circles of a county that had long forgotten the good days.

Long after the game has been dissected, the fact remains that Derry are the 2022 Ulster champions and, with those medals in their hands, they enter the GAA history books.