Why Derry were caught Red-handed
SINCE the advent of the qualifier system, conspiracy theories have never been in short supply. Just last week, I became privy to such a theory for this year when I learned of a restaurant owner who, having spoken to a well-known pundit at his table following Kerry’s defeat to Cork in the Munster semi-final, received emphatic encouragement to back Kerry to win the All-Ireland.
After leaving the pundits’ table he approached two elderly gentlemen at another table and enlightened them before proceeding to the next table. No sooner had he left than one of the gentlemen elbowed the other and pronounced: “I told you Kerry couldn’t get through the back door fast enough.”
And so another conspiracy theory is born.
With that little anecdote fresh in my mind I took my seat to watch the Ulster semi-final between Derry and Tyrone in Casement Park wondering which team could afford to lose this match and take the long road that is the qualifiers. Prior to the throw-in, to me the pressure appeared to be piled high on Derry for three reasons: (1) the fallout from the Monaghan match and subsequent comments from their manager; (2) the bitter club rivalry in Derry which had resulted in the absence of two key players on top of those already suspended and (3) another loss would mean the Oak Leafers had not appeared in an Ulster final in 10 years.
Tyrone, on the other hand, have stated openly through both management and players that they have no inclination to go the longer route again this year. The game started with both sides employing a defensive system, one man in front of each full-back line – Gormley for Tyrone and McGoldrick for Derry – to negate the perceived threats of the Bradleys, O’Neill and Kavanagh respectively. This opening gambit resulted in a lot of traffic in the middle third of the pitch and an onus on others to take responsibility on both sides. However, crucially it also resulted in a mismatch in the middle of the field, with Paul Murphy picking up Kevin Hughes. That handed the initiative to Tyrone.
2. FOR TYRONE, MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK OF DERRY
I CANNOT recall Paul Murphy playing at midfield for Derry in any game of importance in the recent past and it showed for the 22 minutes he played there, as Kevin Hughes laid the foundation for his man-of-the-match performance in that period. In addition, his dominance and that of his teammates in that time allowed Tyrone to ease into a 0-6 to 0-2 lead before a change was made. The scoring responsibility at this stage was assumed by Tommy McGuigan, with a score from play and three frees, and Martin Penrose, 0-2 from play. However, by the end of the game four more Tyrone players contributed on the scoresheet from play. In total, eight outfield Tyrone players kept the scoreboard ticking over. Compare to Derry, who scored but 0-2 from play, only 0-2 in the second half and at one stage did not score for 20 minutes.
3. THERE’S A REASON TYRONE REMAIN FAVOURITES TO DEFEND THE ALL-IRELAND
THE bottom line is that Tyrone, as one would expect of All-Ireland champions, are not dependent on two or three players in any area of the pitch to win Championship games, While they underlined that again in Casement Park, Derry’s key players once again crumbled under the weight of unrealistic expectations on their shoulders which, on this occasion, was exacerbated by the loss of players through suspensions and injuries. Tyrone will be happy to have won their local derby yesterday but their ambitions have long since outgrown neighbourly tussles and they will view this as a further step along the shortened road to successfully defending Sam Maguire.
It is Derry who will run – or should that be limp – through the back door and if they should emerge out the other side and annex an All-Ireland title, they might just have the ingredients to create the greatest conspiracy theory of them all.
