Éamonn Fitzmaurice: Rory Gallagher's flawless plan executed perfectly
Derry manager Rory Gallagher congratulated by his son Seany after Sunday's Ulster SFC win over Tyrone. ©INPHO/Lorcan Doherty
Last week as I did my obair bhaile for the Tyrone and Derry game I gave Cahair O'Kane, a Derry man and journalist with the Irish News, a shout to get a sense of his native county. His information was on the money but one thing he said really stuck in my head. He stated that Rory Gallagher would be regarded in Derry as one of, if not the top coach in Ireland. I had come across him plenty of times when he was in charge of Donegal but we had always got the better of them.
While I obviously respected him I also expected for us to win when we met. As I watched his progress with Fermanagh I wondered had he become too wedded to an ultra defensive gameplan. He has seriously evolved though and his Derry team now are a serious unit. He is maximising the players at his disposal by appropriate use of their best attributes. Lockdown 2020 was an important time for this Derry team. It provided a pause point that allowed a callow group to really develop physically.
They are now extremely well conditioned and are packed with pace, particularly in the middle third. There are days in management when all the work in the training ground and meeting room comes off and this is as enjoyable as it gets. Gallagher had one of those days yesterday when he nailed his game plan and his players executed it perfectly.
From the throw in when Tyrone attacked all of the Derry players retreated, which is a ploy straight out of the Gallagher playbook. I groaned to myself thinking this is going to be a long day out but that was Gallagher 2015, this is Gallagher 2022. I was pleasantly surprised. As they retreated they were careful to keep their lines in place. When Tyrone had the ball the full forward line of Benny Heron, Shane McGuigan and Niall Toner became the first line of defence, usually retreating to an area between their 45m and 65m lines. This was critical from a shape point of view.
As soon as they won the ball back Heron, McGuigan and Toner sprinted up the pitch to be available as options in the counter attack. Often they would go all the way and get inside the 20m line before they began making runs for the their on rushing team mates. The searing pace that Derry now possess in the middle third worked brilliantly in the counter but they also had kick options. At times when they turned the ball over they allowed things to settle before they took off at pace.
It reminded me of Pep Guardiola speaking about how he guided Manchester City back to their best last season by focusing on the concept of ‘la pausa’ – literally, the pause – the composure and self-possession to allow that delay that allows space open up. He spoke about the importance of controlling the rhythm of the game, of understanding that sometimes it’s more effective to slow down than to speed up. Derry nailed that yesterday. They scored 11 points from turnovers won and counter attacks which illustrates their hunger and the effectiveness of their plan.
In the past, Gallagher teams would have tried to carry it the whole way up the pitch, now they have pace to burn as well as kick options and their decision making means they know what suits best at different times in the game.
Rumours were flying around Healy Park before the game that Gareth McKinless had headed Stateside for the summer and would not play. Instead he lined out at midfield where he gave a tour de force in the first half. He repeatedly linked play and drove forward. He punched holes and put Brian Kennedy on the back foot.
He helped out defensively, getting one great block on Cathal McShane and despite a height disadvantage he contested kickouts with vigour. He frustrated Kennedy to the point that the Tyrone man lashed out with a kick and got a red card in the 25th minute effectively ending Tyrone’s resistance.
In the second half McKinless was deployed as a deep lying sweeper in front of Tyrone’s dangerous inside duo of Darren McCurry and Darragh Canavan. He may not have been on the ball as much but he was extremely effective ensuring that Tyrone didn’t get the goal they needed to get back into the game. Another player to impress was Paul Cassidy who played a key role in the first half.
As Tyrone got bodies behind the ball to protect their goals he occupied the area at the top of the ‘D’ centrally. He was repeatedly available for 1-2s that broke the Tyrone rearguard open. After this happened a few times Tyrone cottoned onto the strategy and began to push out on him, which left space behind. The Derry penalty was created because of said space that Cassidy himself had moved in to.
Conor Doherty was also excellent and played another important role. Nominally he was marking Frank Burns who retreated as a sweeper when Derry had the ball leaving Doherty free. Doherty pushed up, played as an extra forward, scoring two points and causing plenty of problems for Tyrone. Conor Glass was critical as he goes about his business with a calm authority.
He took Conn Kilpatrick completely out of the game while influencing the match himself. Any time that Tyrone got a bit of a press on, Glass was the target for Odhran Lynch and more often than not he did the business as Derry won 75% of their long kickouts. All of these little battles were pre-planned by Gallagher and played out exactly as he expected. The trust that builds between a manager and his players and vice versa from this kind of performance and result is incalculable.
It is far from the end of the line for Tyrone but this inept display was not part of the plan. We know that they can recover from big setbacks, think back 12 months ago to Killarney for a reference point. What it would be like to be a fly on the wall of their video review this week. Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan will be furious and there will be a lot of hard talking to be done. Their handling and energy was off from the start. The more frustrated they became the less disciplined they were ending up with 13 men on the field.
This year they have averaged nearly a red card a game. Obviously the Armagh league match influences that statistic but it still speaks of an issue, an issue that needs to be addressed and fixed. Is the constant appealing of every card enabling this? Only Tyrone can answer that one. They have five weeks now to regenerate themselves.
In my experience that regeneration often comes from shuffling personnel, giving panel members that have been showing form a go. With the seven departures from the squad is that personnel available to Logan and Dooher? Time will tell. The qualifiers is fast becoming a minefield but like Mayo and Armagh if they pick up a couple of wins and some momentum they will be best avoided in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
For Derry the trick is to repeat their performance in two weeks time against a seasoned and confident Monaghan. Gallagher and co have been preparing for Tyrone since the draw was made last November and will now look to shift focus immediately. They will try to surf the wave and look to harness the confidence and buzz that this win will bring. Yesterday, they announced their arrival in Healy Park against the All-Ireland champions, two weeks time is the day to show they now belong.
