Tony Leen: Derry keep Cork at arm's length and Kerry guessing

Wherever else Cork came up shy in a bid to elbow their way back into the final four, it wasn’t in the production of presentable scoring opportunities.

Mon, 03 Jul, 2023 - 00:00

Tony Leen, Croke Park

IT was, by some distance, the mundane All-Ireland quarter-final. Derry as competent as needs must, Cork plainly missing the spark that might detonate the Ulster champions’ super-structure.

It won’t cause Ciaran Meenagh any distress that Derry remain the most awkward semi-finalist to get a fix on. Where Kerry and Dublin brought the good stuff to Croke Park and Monaghan survived like only they can, the Oak Leafers advanced to the last four with a whiff of stealth and a hint there’s something still there to pull from the bottom of the deck.

Winning back-to-back titles in football’s most competitive province may not cut much ice with the oddsmakers when Kerry are the booby prize, but Derry will set all manner of tactical roadblocks for Jack O’Connor’s free-wheeling champions in two weeks. Their semi-final match-up will be an intriguing puzzle.

As well as Kerry’s midfield performed on Saturday against Tyrone, the challenge of Conor Glass and Brendan Rogers will necessitate something better again. David Clifford will likely have Chrissie McKaigue for company in a fortnight.

The notion that the disruption in the Derry set-up before the Ulster final has, in some way, retarded their progress, might be wishful thinking. Certainly. Meenagh gave it short shrift after Sunday’s win.

“I pride myself on taking things in my stride. I hate drama and I hate fuss. I just like getting on with things and that’s the way the players wanted it.

“I’ve been with Rory (Gallagher) there for three full years. I saw how things were done. I was integral to everything. There were many hours and hours and hours of conversation with what I would consider the best brains in Gaelic football. Everything that would have happened, we would have ran through each other. We were exceptionally close as a team. It wasn’t as if it was somebody from outside or a management team from outside was parachuted in – there was a lot of continuity there. How we do things now is exactly how we did things beforehand. I think that consistency and continuity is exactly what the group needed in very troubled times.”

The times Derry were troubled Sunday were few and far between. When full back Rory Maguire goaled cleverly for Cork in the 47th minute to stir some jeopardy into the quarter-final, it took Derry less than a minute to respond in kind via wing back Conor Doherty, restoring their four-point lead. It felt as arm’s length as that all afternoon.

Wherever else Cork came up shy in a bid to elbow their way back into the final four for the first time since 2012, it wasn’t in the production of presentable scoring opportunities.

Whether these failures were a consequence of inexperience, poor decision-making and technique or the opposition, it won’t make the review of their season any more palatable.

John Cleary doesn’t need the numbers to support the view that good chances in both halves either fell to the wrong player or were poorly executed. The Cork manager estimated that they converted around 27% of their chances, and he wasn’t far wrong. Cork engineered 33 attacks in total – more than Derry – but they yielded only nine scores.

Like the opening half a week ago against Roscommon, they took too long to find the gearstick – and spent too long in neutral. Interestingly, the manager felt a lot of Cork’s energy givers were flat on the day.

Chances for Colm O’Callaghan – who got better as the game went on - and Killian O’Hanlon (twice) were spurned and neither Sean Powter nor Steven Sherlock were able to make a meaningful contribution to Cork’s offensive threat. Derry picked off scores with less fuss and it was to Cork’s credit that, like last week, they reached the interval only a point adrift.

The moments after the break typified their frustration, Mattie Taylor burst from midfield and could have levelled without too much fuss. Instead he sought to find the onrushing O’Callaghan but the pass went to ground. Within a couple of minutes, Ciaran McFaul and Niall Loughlin had extended Derry’s lead.

In exploring Cork’s deficiencies at this level, it’s not simplistic to underline the importance of a fit Brian Hurley in an offence that's lightweight at this level. The talents of a fit-again Conor Corbett were evident at Croke Park, but as a foil to Hurley, both he and Sherlock would expect to profit to a far greater extent.

Meenagh spoke to the comparisons between this and the semi-final exit last year against Galway and believes Derry are better geared for the championship moments. Certainly they limited the penetration of Cork’s power runners, Ian Maguire and Powter, and short-circuited Cork momentum in the best way possible, rendering Cork’s second-half surge stillborn.

“We knew how dangerous Cork are when they get momentum. When they turn you over, and get their tails up, they’re a breed of people that are innately very confident, and that’s a dangerous thing,” Meenagh explained.

“We talked about turnovers and the big scores - it wasn’t about what happened, it was about how we reacted. Our goal was worth more than three points to us because it was a huge sucker punch for Cork as well.”

If Derry’s 2023 story is yet to be told, Cork end it at the same stage as a year ago but with more positives in the ledger. Cleary might have felt in the wake of yesterday’s defeat that Derry was a bridge too far, but ultimately, they lost by four playing poorly - even though they had to rely on Micheal A Martin to save a late Shane McGuigan penalty.

“It's up to the lads now if they want to try and get to the next level,” he reflected. “These games are tactical, they're tough, they're hard and you must have everything going for you. We're probably not at that level yet. Whatever about experience, when you get your chances you've got to take them. You look at how clinical Kerry were here on Saturday. That's the level you've got to get to.”

The obvious next increment is promotion to Division 1 where seven 70-minute examinations await. “You become battle-hardened there,” Cleary said.

Sean Meehan, Luke Fahy and Kevin Flahive would certainly strengthen Cork defensively but it’s in the top half of the pitch that they need fresh impetus. Cathail O’Mahony has been a miss this season, but they need to find at least two more to augment the 2023 breakouts, Corbett and Chris Óg Jones.

“The other thing is trying to develop a panel so that you'd have 24 or 25. That's what we've been trying to do - develop a panel that will be able to come here regularly and compete and be close enough so that some day you might get the bit of luck and get over the line.

"But it's tough, tough stuff.”