Rory Gallagher: 'It was a score and we’re not going to try and rob them of a score'

Derry boss had no issues with a decision to reinstate Shane Walsh’s first half 45 after a HawkEye malfunction.

THE PAIN GAME: Derry's Ethan Doherty and manager Rory Gallagher after their All-Ireland SFC semi-final loss to Galway in Croke Park. 

Derry manager Rory Gallagher had no qualms about the result nor the decision to reinstate Shane Walsh’s first half 45 after a HawkEye malfunction.

Although he rued his team not punishing the opposition more when they were in the ascendancy in the opening quarter, Gallagher admitted they had been soundly defeated by Galway.

“We were beaten by a better team, there’s no doubt about that. I think the way the game panned out we were very good and controlled an awful lot in the first 18, 20 minutes and would like to have been ahead more than we were. We were disappointed to be level at half-time albeit Galway had turned the direction of the game and were starting to get the measure of us. But we were disappointed we left chances behind us.

“We settled really well, no doubt about that, without a lot of our main players playing anywhere close to the level that they can. I think Galway set out their stall once we got the ball and that was fine and we preempted that.

“We just didn’t really rip into them the way we wanted to. The first three points were obviously good but we should have ripped into them far more and that’s disappointing because I felt it took them a while to get to grips with us defensively even though they were getting bodies behind the ball.” 

Gallagher sensed Derry were a bit daunted by the occasion at times in the first half. “Maybe there was a bit of timidness in us. Sometimes that happens, Galway are more seasoned than us albeit there were a lot of young players as well and I thought they were coached very well. At the end of the day, we’ll reflect and we’ll not be happy with how we went at them.” As for Walsh’s 45 being restored on the resumption of the second-half so that the teams were level, Gallagher had no issue. “The referee Brendan Cawley asked were we happy enough with that and if it was a point, it was a point. There’s no doubt. Our players thought it was over the bar. It was a score and we’re not going to try and rob them of a score.” 

Gallagher lauded Galway’s strikeforce of Damien Comer and Walsh. “You have to give phenomenal credit to Shane Walsh. He was quiet by his standards, he’s a phenomenally talented player, but the level of free-taking he got.

“You got to give Damien Comer unbelievable credit as well, Brendan Rogers threw the gauntlet down to him early on but in an intense game like that the two of their contributions (Comer and Walsh) was unbelievable.