Derry graduate from Q school

SIX years since its inception and there is still a body of opinion that the Qualifiers are something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Well, Cavan on Saturday night was the perfect riposte to critics of the back door.

With the hurling quarter-finals dominating the weekend bill at Croke Park, Derry and Laois faced off with little fanfare, but still produced a game full of fluid football and few frees.

After their Leinster final defeat, Laois travelled with less momentum and they did well to keep the contest alive until the last minute against a county that holds great faith in the restorative powers of the last chance saloon.

Nineteen times Derry have played games in the plate event — four more than Fermanagh, Meath and Louth — and they have won all but four of those fixtures. Only Kerry, Tyrone and Dublin boast superior win ratios.

Even with that pedigree, little was expected of them after their traumatic exit from Ulster at the hands of Monaghan and yet, here they are, in an All-Ireland quarter-final and with the scalps of Armagh, May and Laois hanging from their belt.

“There’s a character in this team,” said manager Paddy Crozier. “We took a lot of stick after the Monaghan game but we knew the boys hadn’t become bad players overnight. Fair play to them, they have taken big steps. Had you told us we would be in the last eight after the Monaghan game we would have laughed at you.”

Crozier is quick to play down his own role in this spectacular rebirth but his tactical nous has been the cornerstone of their success.

He responded to the Monaghan disaster by re-jigging most of his team and he pulled a real masterstroke with his latest bit of tinkering, pulling Enda Muldoon back from the full to the half-forward line. It isn’t often a man of the match award finds its way to a forward who finishes a game scoreless but the Ballinderry man was a colossus on Saturday, dominating the skies and distributing the ball with a consistent accuracy.

There was a time when Derry’s story could have been subtitled ‘The Paddy Bradley Show’ and, though he was prominent here again, he was merely part of the orchestra on this occasion and not its conductor.

“Maybe that’s all in the past but it’s good to see Paddy back on form and playing so well there. There’s Collie Devlin and Paul Murphy up front as well and the lads have been sharing the scores since the start of the National League. Long may it last.”

After the cakewalk that was the defeat of Mayo, this is a game that should stand to the Oak Leaf county against Dublin in the last eight.

Rampant in the first quarter, they were pegged back to a point at the interval and it was only at the final whistle that their pursuers finally lost the scent.

Twice inside the first ten minutes of the second half Laois drew level but they passed up chances to take the lead and Murphy’s goal 20 minutes from time was the score that gave the winners sufficient room to manoeuvre despite the two green flags Laois raised either side of it.

“It was a great performance,” said Crozier. “We set out our stall to go after them from the start and that’s what we did. Fair play to them, they came back at us and there was only a point in it at half-time. It was nip and tuck until we got the goal that gave us a bit of breathing space.”

Some work remains. Twelve wides is a worrying stat on an evening when there wasn’t a wisp of wind or drop of rain and they will be hard pressed to explain why they only had three points to spare after a first quarter in which they had almost sole ownership of the football.

Part of the answer is to be found in the opposition camp. Heavily criticised at a county board meeting seven days ago, Laois could have rolled over and said their farewells to the season but they fronted up instead.

“I’m very proud of my players,” said Liam Kearns. “They’ve taken an awful lot of stick, especially in the local papers in Laois. They gave it everything. I couldn’t ask for any more from them.”

“They put it up to Dublin big time and we’ll see how Derry and Dublin do now. That’s only our third loss this year over 70 minutes. We got to the final of the O’Byrne Cup, we were within a kick of a ball from a league semi-final and we got to the Leinster final.”

Scorers: Derry: P Bradley 0-7 (5f); C Gilligan 0-3 (2f); P Murphy 1-2; M Lynch 0-2; C Devlin, J Conway, F Doherty, G O'Kane 0-1.Laois: M Tierney 0-4 (3f); C Parkinson 0-3; P McMahon 1-0; B Sheehan 1-0; R Munnelly, P Lawlor, B McCormack, J Higgins 0-1.

DERRY: B Gillis; M McGoldrick, K McCloy, G O'Kane; L Hinphey, SM Lockhart, F McEldowney; F Doherty, J Conway; M Lynch, P Murphy, E Muldoon; C Devlin, Paddy Bradley, C Gilligan.

Subs: J Keenan for Hinphey (35), K McGoldrick for M McGoldrick (49), R Wilkinson for Murphy (54), Patsy Bradley for Gilligan (67)

LAOIS: F. Byron; A Fennelly, C Ryan, J Higgins; P McMahon, T Kelly, B McCormack; P Clancy, B Quigley; P O'Leary, P Lawlor, C Parkinson; M Tierney, K. Fitzpatrick, R. Munnelly.

Subs: R Stapleton for Ryan (22), B Sheehan for Lawlor (42), D Brennan for Fitzpatrick (60), G Donaghy for Lynch (61).

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).