McGeeney hits back after Meenagh comments on Armagh sideline pressure

Derry manager Ciarán Meenagh said his side's Ulster SFC semi-final defeat to Monaghan was like "a nightmare unfolding in front of your eyes".

Kieran McGeeney: “I suppose what other people are good at is pointing the finger. If that's their style, fair play.” Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

A deeply frustrating night for Derry and their manager, Ciarán Meenagh, who lamented their poor conversion rate and some contentious calls in the Athletic Grounds.

Derry ended up with more shots than Armagh on Saturday night but could have no complaints about the five-point margin of defeat. They were, however, aggrieved at a breach called against Padraig McGrogan in the second half.

“The less I say about that the better,” said Meenagh post-match.

“At the end of the day, he wasn't over the line, he caught the ball, but sometimes the more shouting that is done at officials, it seems to be that... All I know is that if I shouted with that ferocity, I don't know if we would have got the call - put it that way.

“I think if the shoe was on the other foot, and I had went with that level of ferocity, I think it would have been a free in front of the goals.” 

It was Derry’s first game since their Ulster semi-final extra-time defeat against Monaghan.

“That was difficult. There's no doubt about that. That was numbing, like. It was a car crash situation. It was a nightmare unfolding in front of your eyes and that was a very, very difficult changing room after.

“We regrouped very quickly and in fairness the players stayed loyal to the group and we felt we had a number of good weeks. But you don't know how good. Four weeks is a fairly long lay-off.” 

Derry manager Ciaran Meenagh in conversation with captain Conor Glass before their side's All-Ireland SFC round 1 game against Armagh. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Meenagh was then asked about how his side had approached the last month and the process of picking his players up again.

“We took a number of days off and we reconvened on the Thursday,” he said.

“We just trained as normal. In fairness, the players were really, really loyal to the cause. We were very united and I suppose that's probably why there was very little word of any friction in the camp or anything. So in terms of the players, in terms of their loyalty to their county, in terms of their loyalty to the management, in terms of their loyalty to each other, the next two weeks I anticipate to be the exact same.” 

Meanwhile, Kieran McGeeney was indifferent when Meenagh’s comments about sideline protests were put to him.

“I suppose what other people are good at is pointing the finger. If that's their style, fair play.” 

Jason Duffy was shown a black card in the second half. McGeeney also appeared irritated at half-time due to a missed breach, but he wasn’t willing to discuss it at length.

“Less I seem to talk with the referees, the better it seems to be. There was a lot of talk last weekend, a lot of good referees out there trying to do the thing well. I just think maybe our focus can be on the wrong things at times.” 

On the topic of referees ‘letting more go,’ he was equally forthright.

“I think you just need to know what rules they're going to ignore so you can tell your players.

“It's fairly simple. Everybody just needs to know the parameters of the game that you're playing. I don't think it's that complicated.

“We have rules that we can enforce. I'd agree with you, I think the game should be played a bit more physically, but then if you do that and somebody blows you up, the referee is always going to be right. Don’t get me talking about referees tonight. It's not my favourite subject.”