A lot done, more to do, says Derry ace Kielt

ONE hurdle negotiated, another to tackle.

James Kielt knows plenty of people will remain unconvinced about Derry’s Ulster credentials until the final whistle of the provincial decider in Clones on July 17.

While they have thrown one monkey off their back, in putting back-to-back tie wins together for the first time since 2000, he knows they need to do more against either Tyrone or Donegal to change the perception of the county.

He admitted: “Hopefully, with an Ulster final, a lot of people will look at it and see a Derry team that beat an Armagh team by nine points that had beaten a Down team convincingly.

“They will say they must be doing something right up in Derry. But Derry normally fall after a great performance like that. So we have a lot real hard work until then.”

Sunday’s win over Armagh will have changed the opinion of some, he knows. When Armagh threatened two fightbacks in the second half, Derry didn’t budge, hitting Paul Hearty’s net twice and finishing out the game in comfortable fashion.

“When we had to dig in when Armagh got the goal in the second half, we got two or three points in a row and I think that is where we won the game. We didn’t collapse, which is what Derry teams are supposed to do according to the media.”

Their standing in their own county hasn’t been so high either.

The paltry Derry crowd in Clones was a testimony to the lack in faith in the team. Somehow, Kielt wasn’t too upset about their supporters’ indifferent attitude towards them.

“I think most people, even in Derry, didn’t give us much of a chance coming up here. Derry have always had these performances over the last 10 years, the problem was putting two of them together. We have done the two now, we have to do the three. There is not much point in getting to finals and losing. As the great Eamonn Coleman said at half-time in the 1993 All-Ireland final against Cork, ‘it is not won yet’.”

For Kielt, Clones has been a happy hunting ground for the county. Although he didn’t score on Sunday, he has played two championship games there, winning both, with Derry amassing an aggregate total of 6-30 (they scored 3-16 against Monaghan in a 2009 qualifier).

But Sunday was easily the most significant of the two, catalysed by the motivating leadership of manager John Brennan.

“Everybody in Derry knows the craic with John. He is a fairly old school manager. He will go out for a pint with the lads. He will enjoy himself. He is a great manager. If the chips are down he will put his arm around me and tell you that you are a great footballer.”

Kielt agrees the style of attacking football Brennan subscribes to suits this group.

“He will let you go out and play football. He is supportive of you making a good run, he doesn’t criticise you for not playing a different way.”

Eoin Bradley mentioned after the game that Brennan didn’t use Derry’s woeful Ulster semi-final run during the Noughties to stir the troops. Given the young age profile of the panel, Kielt felt the statistic of losing seven semi-finals in a row didn’t loom large on them.

“Probably not on this panel,” he said. “There are a few younger boys on this panel, the likes of myself. We didn’t want it to go on too long without an Ulster final. Every county other than us had been in an Ulster final since we were last in the Ulster final.

“It is disappointing that way. Derry football was on a bit of a low there. We had a good team that should have given Ulster a rattle over them 10 years.

“I am delighted for the likes of Big Enda (Muldoon). He was a minor in 1995 and he is the only Derry player on the panel with an Ulster medal — in fact he is the only one with an Ulster final appearance too.”