Gary Brennan: If Derry maintain form, the rest will struggle to live with them
ON THE RISE: Derry's Gareth McKinless scores his side's fourth goal on Saturday against Clare.
And then there were four. A weekend that was highly-anticipated but didn’t quite ignite in the way many hoped.
I often feel that we can be very hard to please. Yes, we all want exciting games and the best possible showcases, but there’s sometimes a romanticised view that every game must be a cracker. I understand the argument that by quarter final stage, we want to see the best teams thrash it out in the way Galway and Armagh did on Sunday and that the standard should be reaching near peak - however, the reality is that it rarely happens until the very latter stages of almost any competition.
I heard the argument after Saturday’s games that Clare, and to a lesser extent Cork after their showing against Dublin, were nowhere near top eight teams, but both arrived there on merit based on staying in the second division of the league and maximising the draws that came their way.
Ok says you, if that’s the case we should only have the top eight teams in the country playing for Sam. Derry might have something to say about that as they would not be in that bracket based on league standings. Neither would Dublin by the way. How many teams could you place without any doubt in the very top tier?
For Clare, there’s no denying that it was a sobering weekend, but it’s better to have gotten there and failed than to be watching from home. That is by no means saying that we should be happy just to get there. Clare can learn a huge amount from Saturday’s experience. It was an under-performance obviously, but I got no sense of that being because they were just happy to have made it to that stage.
Derry were ruthless in going after where they felt Clare could be exploited. We have struggled at times with some of our shorter kick-outs and Derry went after that from the start. For the incident that led to the first goal, they had six players around the D compared to four from Clare. They were daring Clare into trying what they did, and it worked.
They also identified how Roscommon’s slower lateral play suited Clare and gave them time to set up. I’ve written here before about how Derry pack the full-forward line (sometimes having five across and inside the 13m line on Saturday). This dragged Clare defenders backwards and left space around the D for their runners to attack. The pace at which they did so was impressive.
In that category, I would rank Derry Number One from the weekend. If they can replicate that pace, any of the other three remaining counties will have a hard time living with them. Galway will likely ask more questions of them in attack and will look at the way Clare carved out their first goal with interest - that cut in behind which Derry themselves are so good at.
But Rory Gallagher was quite honest in his remarks that he cut his cloth to measure on Saturday, and I get the sense that we may see a different twist again on the Derry style in the semi-final. For Clare, the important thing is to keep getting back to this stage as often as possible.
We don’t have to look too far for inspiration. Galway and Armagh, who thrilled us all Sunday, have had their own troubles with the quarter-final round. The Tribesmen were beaten by nine in 2016, and eight points the following year, the same year Armagh went down by eighteen points. The more opportunities Clare get at this level, the more comfortable we should become there and the better chance we give ourselves of being ready to progress a step further.
On top of that, Derry are reaping the rewards of a number of years of excellent work at underage level where they have been very competitive and successful in Ulster and beyond. There is a lot of good work going on at underage in Clare, but that needs to be sustained and fortified over several years to develop the player pool that the likes of Derry now have. There is nobody better to lead Clare to the next step than Colm Collins. He will take time to reflect on the year and speak to everyone involved, as he always does, but for as long as he still wishes to remain Clare manager, they are in good hands.
There remains some questions about each of the semi-finalists - do Dublin carry the same goal threat when Con isn’t there? Is Kerry’s defensive solidity costing them in terms of how quickly they can attack? Can Galway manage a game in which they lead?
Each of the respective management teams will be working on these valid questions over the next fortnight, but the rest of us shouldn’t forget to enjoy the brilliance we saw at different stages over the weekend. Even with all the talk of systems and defensive setups in the modern game, the skills of the game still shine through. Cillian McDaid’s point to bring Galway to penalties is one of the more obvious moments but the bravery and skill it took to shake off a tackle and swing that over after more than 90 minutes of play - with the clock in the red - should not be underestimated.
Ditto Armagh’s relentlessness and Rian O’Neill’s wonder-strike to bring it to extra-time. Lee Gannon kicking points off both feet on the run. Ian Maguire’s fielding and Brian Hurley’s point kicking in the first half of Cork’s game. Johnny Cooper with two brilliant blocks. Oisín Mullin disrupting ball aimed at David Clifford only for the latter to eventually find himself free and finish a goal superbly. Brian Fenton and David Moran at different stages finding beautiful kick-passes directly to forward’s chests for marks, even when there were extra defenders in place, and both contributing two beautifully kicked scores each themselves.
And Derry’s willingness to go for goals when points seemed more likely. Let’s celebrate these moments of brilliance as much as we ponder the questions that remain.
