The easy thing to do would be to start off today’s column by picking holes in what was another calamitous performance by the Oak Leafers that has left even their manager Mickey Harte scratching his head for answers.
The fact that Derry have now lost three championship games in succession (two emphatically) also calls into question this new format.
Should a team be able to lose three games and still remain in the race for Sam? I don’t think so. Two teams qualifying from each group would provide greater excitement and a touch of jeopardy in advance of four quarter-finals.
But before we get to Derry’s woes, we must take stock of what really was a top class performance from Armagh. Let’s not forget only three weeks before they suffered yet another heartbreaking Ulster Final loss on penalties.
Once again lambasted for not being ruthless enough to put a team away when having them on the ropes. 3-17 (3-14 from play) was some scoring and to put 11 points on the National League Champions is no mean feat. The intensity and discipline in the tackle was as good as I’ve seen from an Armagh team in McGeeney’s tenure.
The speed and execution of the counter-attack was electric and very akin to what we had been witnessing from Donegal in their games to date. The work of Conleth Gilligan here is obvious.
Armagh manipulated the numbers game on counter-attacks and kick-outs. Men getting ahead of the ball and creating that plus one in attack when the space was there to be exposed after a turnover or upon winning one of their own long kick-outs.
Armagh have really galvanised since their Ulster Final defeat whilst Derry have completely unravelled - it’s almost like they jumped into a time machine and went back about five or six years. They conceded 2-5 from turnovers in the first half alone which is a scary statistic and in reality it could have been a lot worse.
As brilliant as Armagh were on the counter, Derry were a mess both in and out of possession. They were so open at times it looked like they were playing in a Sevens competition.
But why was this the case? When you play a high line in attack, where everyone is pushed up into the opposition half, you can’t afford to give the ball away in the areas that Derry did.
When Conor McCluskey was turned over by some brilliant tackling from Tiernan Kelly, almost his entire team were ahead of him on the pitch, apart from Conor Glass and Odhran Lynch. As Lynch scrambled back to his nets Glass was left in a 3v1. Oisin Conaty even had time for a mini-fumble before he offloaded to the goalscorer Ross McQuillan.
As shocking and uncharacteristic some of the mistakes were, it was the reaction to them at times which really surprised me. The second goal was the moment that really stood out.
When Brendan Rogers fisted the ball away only four outfield players made any sort of an attempt to get back. At the conclusion of the move, some 100 yards later, 10 Derry players could be seen walking and still in their offensive half of the pitch.
To see an attack breaking down and then watch so many players just down tools and not even attempt to get back raises serious question marks around the unity of purpose within the Derry team right now.
In the middle of the field Armagh were so dominant, typified by the fact that out of the first seven kickouts that went long in the game they won all seven.
But, as the saying goes size matters, and when you think about it Derry have probably punched above their weight in recent seasons when it has come to the possessions stakes at midfield.
Armagh had a significant advantage with middle third men like Ben Crealey, Niall Grimley, Rian O’Neill, Rory Grugan, and Joe McElroy holding a few inches on their opponents. Then you add in the likes of Shane McPartland, Oisin O’Neill, and Ross McQuillan from the bench and you can see why and how Armagh would have targeted any Derry high press with long deliveries from Blaine Hughes.
Donegal had shown the way and Armagh followed suit. The third goal came from this exact scenario. Derry chasing the game had pressed high, and when McQuillan plucked the kickout above Rogers, Rian O’Neill gambled to get ahead of the play to be released. Deja vu.
As the rumour mill was rife on Tuesday night about the future of the Derry management, the players and management were sitting in an audio visual room in Limavady watching back another horror movie they were starring in.
It’s hard to believe that just little over six weeks ago Derry had beaten the Dubs in the national league final and many were tipping them as genuine All-Ireland contenders.
Of course management need to accept responsibility for their part in this monumental collapse but the players also need to step up and own some of the basic misgivings that wouldn’t be acceptable in a Junior B set-up.
Basic mistakes and a lack of work-rate have nothing to do with tactics.
John F Kennedy once famously said “Victory has a thousand fathers, but failure is an orphan.” Regardless of the personnel missing through injury, the time for excuses is up. The Westmeath game has suddenly become a massive challenge and for honour alone Derry need to respond.