Sport

Derry hope to continue form from win over Dublin as they look to rock Rebels

Derry will be hoping Aine McAllister is in scoring form when they face Cork in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Picture: Ken Sutton/Inpho
Derry will be hoping Aine McAllister is in scoring form when they face Cork in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Picture: Ken Sutton/Inpho Derry will be hoping Aine McAllister is in scoring form when they face Cork in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate Picture: Ken Sutton/Inpho

Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate semi-finals: Derry v Cork (tomorrow, UPMC Nowlan Park, 4pm)

A RISING tide lifts all boats. In the past few years Down and then Antrim have lifted themselves out of the All-Ireland intermediate championship and retained senior status. That seems to have spurred Derry to double down and follow them.

The Oak Leaf county certainly are a different team this year to versions from the past few seasons when they could not have absorbed the injuries of the past five weeks and continued to win games at this level.

News coming out of the camp is that most, if not all, of the injured players are back at full training and presenting themselves for selection. That will make it difficult for Martin Coulter and Danny McGrellis because several fringe players have come into the team since the mid-group break five weeks ago and are close to nailing down a starting position.

However, although Derry have won three games during that period, they have been inconsistent in individual matches.

Two weeks ago they were out-played by Dublin for periods during the first half and went in a point down at the break. They emerged for the second half a totally different team and out-scored their opponents by 1-15 to 1-1 with a devastating display from the half-forwards.

In the game before that, they hit Wexford for 3-3 in the first 12 minutes and then didn’t score for the rest of the first half.

And there was also a 20-minute period at the start of the second half against Cork in Owenbeg when scores dried up. During that fallow period the defence held out and that was how they survived to win by 1-16 to 3-7 against the team that they now face for a ticket to Croke Park in a fortnight’s time.

The counties also met in the last round of the league down in Cork and the home side eked out a narrow victory.

However, I doubt if anything can be taken by either side from that game as it was played in very difficult wintry conditions.

Cork hammered Kildare 5-21 to 2-5 after their Owenbeg setback and still topped the group from Derry on score difference. They went straight into the semi-finals and therefore have been inactive over the past three weeks. Derry’s win over Dublin, therefore, might just stand them in good stead.

Cork have scored 12 goals over their five league games with eight of those coming in the last two games.

In Owenbeg, Joanne Casey came off the bench at half-time to grab 2-3. I am not sure why Casey didn’t start the game as she is a regular in the team and a huge goal threat to Derry’s ambitions.

Rachel O’Shea was the other goalscorer and again her nifty footwork took her in one-on-one with Niamh McQuillan, although McQuillan has been doing very well since returning to her position between the posts during the Kilkenny game that Derry lost.

Megan Kerr has spent most of her career as a midfielder, but Coulter placed her as a corner-back on Niamh Mallon in the Ulster semi-final. Holding Mallon scoreless from play that day confirmed that she is as good a marker as there is around.

She has been the outstanding player for Derry over the championship, even moving out to half-back for most of the quarter-final. She might be the ideal marker for Casey who tends to operate from half-forward dropping into midfield.

Defence has been Derry’s strong point – despite the changes enforced by injury and also the concession of 9-56 over their six games to date.

It is the forward line that has blown hot and cold.

When they are hot, they tend to be very hot and what happened throughout the second half of the quarter-final was brilliant. Máiréad McNicholl deservedly picked up Player of the Match.

Áine McAllister, another player in top form, could easily have lifted it, while Aoife Shaw and half-time sub Sinéad Mellon also contributed significantly.

Derry were not at their best against Cork in Owenbeg. I doubt if Cork were firing on all cylinders that day either. I think both are evenly matched and there is huge potential in both sides to make this one of the games of the season.

If I can refer back to Antrim’s run to last year’s title. The Saffrons produced one of their best performances in Clones against Galway in the semi-final, leading from pillar to post, and it gave them the confidence to take Croke Park by storm.

That is the challenge for the two teams on Sunday – and particularly for Derry. How they finished against Dublin showed they have the potential to follow their Ulster neighbours through to ultimate success in the competition. They just have to find that consistency against Cork to produce the goods for the whole hour. If they do, they should be in Croke Park challenging for the title.

IT is very tempting to go for Galway in the opening game in Nowlan Park (2pm).

Unbeaten through their group, they have scored 11-97 and conceded just 44 points; no goals in their five games.

However, the quarter-final results have proved that their group was a good bit weaker than Group Two which has produced three of the four semi-finalists.

Four weeks ago, on the morning of June 25, it looked as if Meath had absolutely no chance of making the knock-out stages, following successive defeats to Derry, Wexford and Cork.

However, last season’s beaten semi-finalists beat Kildare by 10 points that afternoon and then won the battle with Kilkenny by 11 points to ghost through on score difference.

A 2-17 to 1-7 victory over Kerry in the quarter-finals makes them a real threat coming into the semi-finals.

Many of the Meath team have played senior championship until they were relegated five seasons ago.

Since then they have consistently made the semi-finals. They are a tough, physical side with two deadly finishers in Aoife Minogue and Jane Dolan.

A Meath win over Galway would top their achievements of the past month. It is unlikely to happen however as Galway have a lot of talented young players bursting to get into the first team squad.