Hard work paid off, says Henry

DAVID HENRY was giving Cheshire cats a good run for their money on Saturday evening and it was hard to begrudge the Dublin captain his beaming smile after such a seminal afternoon.

Back in 2002, the man from Raheny had just been handed his pass onto the senior panel and he watched from the bench that summer as Tommy Lyons’ side took care of Donegal after a quarter-final replay.

The future promised much – and delivered plenty within the province – but the trail ran cold thereafter. Derry were the only side from outside Leinster to fall to the Dubs in the All-Ireland series in the years that followed.