Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final: Derry 0-15 Armagh 0-17
AS Rian O’Neill sent the final free rising up like a helium balloon into the black sky over the Brandywell End of Celtic Park, the roar was one of pure relief.
This was a test Armagh had to pass, one they were expected to pass and, ultimately, one they did pass.
That it was the kind they’ve so often failed will, irrespective of the good and bad of their display, give them comfort. To have Derry rabidly chasing their lead down for 35 minutes and find ways to hold on was just what Kieran McGeeney’s side needed.
The Armagh manager ships much criticism for his tactics but yesterday, he got it spot on.
Their defensive match-ups were perfect. Ryan Kennedy held Shane McGuigan scoreless from play. Aidan Forker took Niall Loughlin up and down the pitch, sapping his energy as they finished with two each from play.
Paddy Burns was like glue to Enda Lynn. Mark Shields dropped back as the free man but with the licence to punch holes going the other way.
And when reinforcements were needed, Niall Grimley had enough to give the team 15 massive minutes. Blaine Hughes targeted him with three kickouts, all of which he won. That was their get-out as Derry threatened to squeeze out a victory.
For their part, the hosts will look at the ten minutes in which Jamie Clarke was off on a black card after a needless drag down in a harmless area of Derry’s half of the pitch.
With the wind at their backs and Niall Loughlin landing a brilliant score to narrow the gap to two, there seemed to be enough momentum to carry them home.
Jamie Clarke stepped back on ten minutes later with his side still 0-13 to 0-11 ahead, and within seconds he won a free that was pointed to effectively puncture Derry’s hopes.
They kicked four wides during that spell, with their best player of the opening 45 minutes Ciaran McFaul hitting two, Brendan Rogers and Shane McGuigan each shooting from positions that were ambitious at best.
They kept pushing and probing in the final minutes but they were becoming ever more desperate and with Grimley on to relieve the pressure, the sense of an upset lessened as the end of time neared.
Armagh’s variation in attack during the first half was superior to Derry’s in the second.
Six of Armagh’s first nine scores were as a result of kick-passing after they’d turned Derry over.
Jamie Clarke and the brilliant Rory Grugan were afforded more space inside than they could have imagined, and in the spells that he rotated higher up the pitch, Oisin O’Neill was troublesome.
His brother Rian was superbly shackled by Chrissy McKaigue who did an outstanding man-marking job, but Armagh still had enough about them to use his four frees and rack up 0-17 on a wet and wintry evening.
They got six points against the wind, and Derry got five. The winning of it was in how Armagh used the wind better once they settled in after a cagey first 10 minutes.
Derry didn’t conform to any of the Rory Gallagher stereotypes, pressurising almost all of Blaine Hughes’ kickouts even against the wind, to the point where Armagh threatened to get in for a goal if one had fallen right over the top.
Their kickout strategy had worked well in the league but no team had been able to shut up the short options as well as Armagh were in the first half. It was too wet a night for anything risky and the one short ball Odhran Lynch poked to Padraig McGrogan taught him not to do it again, as the Newbridge man had to fight to get rid of it under serious pressure and with the threat of a goal looming if he gave it away.
When they went long, the orange shirts were on the front foot. Conor Glass only got loose hands on a couple of kickouts all evening as he still look understandably rusty so soon after coming back from Australia.
It did turn a bit in the second half as Derry were able to attack the ball with the aim simply of breaking it, but Armagh just had more options.
Gallagher will be disappointed by how many of their opponents’ first half scores were taken with no pressure on the ball. They had bodies back but are clearly still learning how to defend against higher-tier opposition.
Niall Loughlin was Derry’s best forward, kicking two from play as well as a mark and a free. It wasn’t for a want of trying on Shane McGuigan’s part, but Kennedy forced him to shoot from distances and angles that were always odds-against.
The Oak Leafers didn’t get nearly enough out of their half-forward line and it was the punch of Aidan Forker, Conor O’Neill and Mark Shields (with 0-4 between them) that made a great attacking impact at the other end.
With a handful of championship debuts given out and a rugged display let down by rashness at key time, Gallagher will take some comfort. But they were competitive with Tyrone last year, Donegal the year before. At some point, they have to find a way to win.
That’s the lesson Armagh have spent the last few years trying to learn.
A psychological victory for the Orchard.
MATCH STATS
Derry: O Lynch; P McNeill, B Rogers; C McWilliams; E Doherty (0-1), C McKaigue (0-1), P McGrogan; C McFaul (0-1), C Glass; D Tallon, E Bradley (0-1), E Lynn, Padraig Cassidy; S McGuigan (0-7 frees), N Loughlin (0-4, 0-1 free, 0-1 mark)
Subs: P Kearney for Tallon (43), O McWilliams for McNeill (61), Paul Cassidy for Lynn (64), A Doherty for Padraig Cassidy (67)
Yellow cards: C McKaigue (38), P McGrogan (60), B Rogers (70), C McWilliams (73)
Armagh: B Hughes; R Kennedy, A Forker (0-2); C O’Neill (0-1), J Morgan, M Shields (0-1), P Burns, G McCabe; O O’Neill (0-2), S Sheridan; S Campbell, R O’Neill (0-4 frees), J Óg Burns (0-1); R Grugan (0-3, 0-1 mark), J Clarke (0-3)
Subs: N Grimley for McCabe (53), C Cumiskey for Sheridan (61)
Yellow cards: S Sheridan (22), P Burns (66), O O’Neill (70), A Forker (72)
Black card: J Clarke (50-60)
Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone)
