THE respective team selections almost made this result a foregone conclusion but Dublin manager Dessie Farrell still hailed his side’s ability to control games.
Having lost out to a late Derry rally here in last year’s Division Two clash he was happy his side largely ran this show from start to finish against a much-changed Derry outfit:
“This can be a great place to generate chaos into a system and we experienced that up here last year. But tonight I think we managed those chaotic moments an awful lot better.
“In general I thought we managed the game well. We controlled good chunks of it in the first half and again in the second half. We kept the scoreboard ticking over. I am happy with the way we showed composure there at times. We were able to eke out the scores to keep that bit of distance and to keep Derry at bay when it was needed.”
Indeed Dublin led from the first minute, were never drawn level, and probably should have won by a bigger margin as they recorded a third consecutive victory:
“Yeah we were a little bit wasteful at times and the Derry goal was a bit of a sucker punch for us at that time,” acknowledged Farrell.
“You’d be disappointed you didn’t go in more than two points up but sure that’s the nature of it and what’s intriguing about playing these teams. We were in a commanding position and then ‘bang’ and it’s game on again. But I think our response to that goal was good, Brian Fenton kicked a very good point.”
Derry’s goal after 25 minutes, rifled in by pacy defender Conor McCluskey, made it 1-3 to 0-7, but when Dublin hit the net themselves after 50 minutes, through substitute Cormac Costello, that was more reflective of their superiority on the night.
Farrell accepted they’d defeated a weakened Derry team, and wasn’t surprised his counterpart Mickey Harte had made that choice:
“I can understand that – they’re probably already in a league final at this stage and they’re keeping their powder dry maybe for a little bit later on in the summer.
“Also, to be fair, player availability is going to be huge this coming campaign, in the rest of the league and for the summer, so I can see why they would be resting a couple of players who’ve had a busy couple of months and getting them ready for what’s to come later on.”