Where do you even start to try and analyse an epic Ulster final that had absolutely everything?
If you are an Armagh supporter you will probably feel it should never have got as far as penalties, with the winning of the game there in normal time.
Had Rory Grugan stroked over s dead ball at the last, that surely would have been that. After coming back on having earlier been subbed, it would have made Mickey Harte’s move with Peter Canavan in ’03 look like the French Defense – the most basic move in chess.
A masterstroke but just missing that final execution. It was far from an easy kick, it has to be said.
Another huge talking point will be whether Jarlath Og Burns was right to take a point, or should he have gone for the jugular and worked the goal at the end of the first half of extra-time.
For once, Derry’s high press on the Armagh kick-out was completely wiped out by a long Ethan Rafferty delivery and the goal was on.
A three-point lead at that stage would have been massive, but then again just getting ahead on the scoreboard was crucial going into the last 10 minutes.
The critics only deal in the currency of hindsight, and will always judge the validity of the decision on what the outcome of the game was.
So probably the wrong call. In my preview last week, I talked up the potential influence each goalkeeper might have on the outcome.
In fairness, both men were superb but after the drama of penalties, Odhran Lynch showed the most basic art of shot-stopping can still be the daddy of them all when it comes to goalkeeping. Some of his saves wouldn’t have been out of place in a World Cup.
Read more: How the Derry players rated in the Ulster final
While much will be made of the penalty shoot-out, the way Shane McGuigan almost single-handedly dragged Derry back from the brink in extra-time was crucial.
Two huge points from play; a free converted by Niall Toner when he was fouled; a free from 55 yards and a ball won at midfield for Lachlan Murray’s point.
Five massive contributions. If McGuigan’s almost virtuoso performance was crucial then so was the blistering start and impact of Slaughtneil clubmate Brendan Rogers who put 1-2 on the board in the first half. The balls won at midfield by Ciaran McFaul and Conor Glass were also massive moments when Armagh had really turned the heat up.
But had Grugan converted his mark, the talking point would have been the Derry kick-out Rian O’Neill won to ignite the move. The winning of this thrilling contest came down to such small margins.
There were so many big moments in the game, but the Derry goal was huge and a complete nightmare from an Armagh perspective.
After a nip-and-tuck start it really shifted the balance of the game and left Armagh chasing for the next 68 minutes. Initially, Conor Doherty’s shot was brilliantly blocked but luck shone on Derry as the break spilled into the arms of Paul Cassidy. As his speculative shot swirled into the mixer, it hung in the air.
Ethan Rafferty came but quickly realised he should have stayed and attempted to back-track. Caught between a rock and a hard place, it was a terrible goal to concede as Rogers fisted home. Derry were there for the taking but a goal was a massive momentum shifter so early as it was already set to be a fairly low-scoring encounter.
Read more: How the Armagh players rated in the Ulster final
ARMAGH will surely rue the fact they didn’t go after Derry more during the first half of extra-time when their opponents only had 14 players on the pitch.
Any success they were having on the Derry kick-out towards the end of second half just didn’t continue into extra-time. I felt that playing with the wind and a man up, they would have nailed it. All three kick-outs were played short by Derry and retained fairly comfortably in that 10-minute period.
They pulled everyone outside the 45, and played in a spear formation centrally, before splitting wide and forwards towards Lynch.
Armagh just couldn’t get to grips with it. In fact, the Orchardmen didn’t win any of Derry’s five kick-outs in extra time.
I was surprised with their approach to the Derry kick-out for the most part. Lynch got his first nine restarts away with minimum fuss. Eventually when Armagh pressed up successfully they got rewarded with a wonderful Rian O’Neill score.
With the wind Armagh only managed to win two out of 13 on the Derry kick-out. They were far too cautious in the first half. Had they backed themselves, would the game have even got to extra-time? I’m not so sure it would have. Yet it was Armagh who had to pull the game from the fire at the end.
During the entire game, Armagh had 36 shots at goal to just 28 from Derry. They had 11 wides and another six efforts dropped short or were blocked.
Although, they tried a few times, they never troubled Derry with their attempts to play the long ball in and around the square. You could see the hand signal as the trigger, but I just couldn’t understand why their two best ball-winners, Rian O’Neill and Andrew Murnin, were everywhere but in the square when these balls went in.
On one occasion early in the second half a long ball kicked in by Grugan was caught uncontested by the Derry goalkeeper.
Murnin was on the ‘D’ and O’Neill outside the ‘50’ on that particular move.
I can’t believe for the life of me that this structure could have been part of the script. It was one of those contests neither team deserved to lose, so to get downed on penalties was heartbreaking for Armagh, but a dramatic end to a thrilling encounter.
Back-to-back Ulster titles for the Oak Leafers for the first time since 1976 is some achievement. I’m sure there will be more than a few sore heads around south Derry this morning.
