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Nine in a row as holders Derry reach final again

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Man of the Match, Conleith Gilligan with sponsor Malachy McVeigh Power NI and Aogan O’Fearghail, Ulster GAA President.

Derry.................................................0-11
Down...................................................0-9
DERRY'S love affair with the Dr McKenna Cup under John Brennan continued at the Morgan Athletic Grounds Armagh on Sunday afternoon with two point win over pre match favourites Down. For Brennan and Derry it was a ninth successive win in this competition and they now look forward to a final against old rivals Tyrone at the same venue on Saturday night.
It was Derry's ability to come strong in the second half, similar to their first three games that took them through but with a four point lead after 63 minutes they had every opportunity to put Down to the sword. However a tendency to over cook some moves allowed Down the opportunity to regroup and gat two late scores but really Derry never looked like losing once Conleth Gilligan put them ahead ten minutes into the second half.
Bruised Bradley
Paddy Bradley must have felt that he went through a mangle after this game, he was pushed, punched, pummelled, tripped and wrestled and how he kept his cool one will never know. Apart from that he was denied at least three frees in scoring positions and on one occasion after being pulled down by a head high tackle had the infuriating sight of referee Hughes waving play on.
Bradley is back and in his first full game in nine months his display was tremendous. His ability to win the high ball is probably even an improvement on previous years. On several occasions he plucked a high ball out of the air with two defenders hanging on to him.
Heartbreak for McCambley
John McCambley was Derry's 'find' of the McKenna Cup but looked to have suffered a serious leg injury after colliding with Benny Coulter just before half time.
He missed out last year because of injury and while the full extent of his injury is not yet known it looked serious enough when he was taken off by stretcher after several minutes treatment on the field.
Changes upon changes
Centre half Dermot McBride was out with a slight injury so Mark Craig who had missed the last two games with injury was called up.
He got injured in the warm up and Neil Forrester was given the call with Mark Lynch reverting briefly to centre half and then Gerard O'Kane moved back to the pivotal position with great effect.
From the game against Donegal four days earlier Liam Morrow replaced Philip McGlade and Swatragh's Ryan Dillon came in for Colin Murray. Joe Diver replaced Michael Bateson at midfield and Paddy Bradley wearing an unaccustomed number 28 was corner forward for Eoghan Brown.
Flying Forrester
He may have been the smallest player on the pitch but Steelstown's pocket dynamo Neil Forrester tramped on every blade of grass on the Athletic Grounds. His blistering pace and ability to win the 'dirty' ball allied to his ball carrying ability makes him a very useful player to have in any county panel.
Gerard O'Kane was at his excellent best sweeping up at centre half while behind him Liam Morrow did ok at full back, Brian McCallion held Benny Coulter scoreless and Ryan Dillon was impressive in a very solid Oak Leaf back six. Chrissy McKaigue improved on the Donegal game as did Sean Leo McGoldrick whose 'engine' allowed him to traverse between defence and attack. Joe Diver had a decent game at midfield as had James Conway when he replaced the unfortunate McCambley.
The attack played with a great amount of understanding but they probably could have had more scores had they gone a bit more direct. As stated Bradley was top drawer but in an ever higher drawer Conelth Gilligan opened his bag of tricks and skills causing havoc in the Mourne defence every time he got the ball. Cailean O'Boyle is proving to be an excellent target man, Mark Lynch put in a big effort before going off late as a precaution with a niggling injury. Barry McGoldrick improved on his performance against Donegal in mid week but there were times when he was in a scoring position but played the ball back. Apart from Conway the other subs came on late in the game
Conway
clobbered
James Conway is an imposing figure of a man and Kalum King a former cage fighter is no nine stone weakling. As Down put on a bit of late pressure when the game went into three minutes of added time the Ballinderry man drifted back to help out at the back. As he went past King the man from the Mournes must have mistook him for the ball a he lashed out with a powerful boot to the shins which grounded James. After consultation with his linesman and umpires King got a fully deserved red card that could keep him out for eight weeks.
Mourne Mountains
Down manager James McCartan who was given short shrift by John Brennan after straying into the Derry half of the sideline during the first half has been beefing up his team with bigger men and in Conor Gough he seems to have a useful midfielder. The Newry Shamrocks man had a good game all through but for some of the others lets say they are just big. Down just managed two points from play and this bears testimony to the effectiveness of the Derry defence.
The play
A crowd of close on nine thousand attended the magnificent Athletic Grounds for the double header and if the second was a bit one sided the first was entertaining and very competitive.
Both sides were a bit tentative in the opening stages with both defences calling up reinforcements in early attacks. Derry went ahead after six minutes when Paddy Bradley was fouled for the first of many times and Conleth Gilligan raised the white flag.

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