SO GR8 TO BE BACK

Oak Leaf it late to land famous title

BY

UP until yesterday’s remarkable, against the odds, Anglo-celt Cup triumph Derry held a pitiful seven Ulster titles – second bottom on the roll of honour.

The county that consistently landed Ulster titles at minor, colleges and club level. But they were locked out of the Ulster senior party since 1998.

Who could have seen what unfolded this summer coming when they spent 2019 in Division Four?

The truth is the appointment of football fanatic Rory Gallagher, and the buyin he’s got from the Derry players, has changed everything.

Derry certainly did it the hard way, breaking a 24 year duck by beating the teams who have shared the last 13 Ulster titles – Tyrone,

Monaghan and Donegal.

The sound of Sean Hurson’s final whistle was greeted as a release from Ulster Championship purgatory.

Hoards of Derry fans invaded St. Tiernach’s Park. They’d waited a while for this one.

It all poured out as Chrissy Mckaigue got some richly deserved rewards for 14 years at the coal face of Derry football, lifting the Ulster title.

In a real dog of a game, Derry toughed it out in extra-time with the magnificent Brendan Rogers scoring a third point from play and Conor Glass striking at the death.

It meant Rory Gallagher landed his first Ulster title as a manager after losing three previous finals – two with Donegal and one with his native Fermanagh.

The game was seriously cagey early on with the only discernible match-up, Patrick Mcbrearty versus Chrissy Mckaigue.

The first 15 minutes resembled a 29 man game of backs and forwards.

There was no long kickout until the 18th minute, meaning there was very little in the way of contact or tackling for lengthy periods.

At one point early on a two man Donegal inside forward line consisted of Odhran Mcfadden Ferry and Stephen Mcmenamin, while at the other end Chrissy Mckaigue was full forward early on with Patrick Mcbrearty on him.

Near the end of extra-time, Shane Mcguigan would field a ball in his own goalmouth. It was that kind of game.

There was nothing between the teams in the first half, with Peadar Mogan, not named but starting, hitting three points to keep Donegal in touch.

Derry forced a series of early errors from Declan Bonner’s side with Caolan Mcgonigle blocked twice, before feeding Mogan for a point. Michael Murphy missed two 45s with a chorus of boos ringing in his ears, before finding his range when Derry goalie, Odhran Lynch went long with a kick out.

The key incident of the first half arrived on 13 minutes when Ethan Doherty injected pace, going at Murphy. His perfectly weighted hand pass inside Odhran Mcfadden Ferry found Niall Toner. Toner kept his cool to find Niall Loughlin, who shot to the net.

Derry led by 1-6 to 0-4 after 29 minutes and were in control of the game.

They survived a scare late in the first half when Caolan Ward, who had earlier passed over a couple of opportunities to shoot, had a go on his left.

The effort dropped short and Derry goalie, Odhran Lynch clawed it away when he might have caught it.

Michael Langan seemed certain to rattle the net, but he rushed his shot and it went wide.

The pressure Derry were able to get on the shooter in the first half was key, with Glass in particular disciplined in the tackle.

At half time Derry led by 1-6 to 0-6 and were in control, but that all changed within 45 seconds of the restart.

Langan blasted a shot from distance straight at goalie Lynch, who spilled it and Mcfadden Ferry followed up to hit the net. Derry were now chasing the game, but they dug in and stayed patient.

Twice in the closing quarter Derry players – Glass and Mcguigan – raided in on goal and appeared to be pulled down, but referee Hurson kept his black card in his pocket. It looked like it might not be Derry’s day.

Up to that point, Donegal had controlled the second half, but with Rogers and Ethan Doherty driving them and Mcguigan coming into the game Derry clung in there and forced extra-time.

“It’s difficult for us,” said Donegal boss Declan Bonner after the game.

“We knew it was going to go down to the wire and ultimately it did. Derry got their scores in extra time to put them over the line and fair play to them to come through a difficult route.

“We have to dust ourselves down and look at what’s ahead in the qualifiers.”