Excellent game plan from the Sligo mangement who got their tactics spot on

I felt the Sligo management got the tactics right which enabled us to play with our strength’s getting the ball more quickly from back to front in addition to improving immensely in the tackling at the back where we put the opposition under a lot more pressure when they had the ball, as opposed to everyone marking space.

When a team plays more on the front foot you are susceptible to the counter attack if you are sloppy with your own possession going forward which was demonstrated by both Derry’s goals where they punished us to the maximum on each occasion when we were out of position after giving up the ball cheaply.

This ‘full of character’ performance was just what was required heading into a championship opener against London.

We remember too well what happened the last time we travelled five years ago.

The Sligo manager Cathal Corey and his backup team will be feeling pleased this week for a number of reasons.

Twice it looked like Derry were going to take over as they had their foot on our throat.

However, Sligo responded superbly which started to sow seeds of doubt in the Derry players’ minds, in that they couldn’t shake us off.

The character in the face of adversity that the players displayed to dig a memorable win out of the fire.

Thirdly, Composure, when things were going wrong, the composure which Liam Gaughan and Kevin McDonnell showed to score two brilliant individual goals.

Defensively, while leaking two turnover, counter attack goals I felt we manned up better today, taking more responsibility when tackling as opposed to some of the shadow tackling that we have displayed in recent games.

There was big improvement in the area of transitioning the ball from the back to front particularly in the second half.

Aidan Devaney’s kickouts were 90 percent successful.

Paddy O’Connor’s cannonball goal which ultimately won the game assisted by Sean Carribine who brilliantly managed to stay on his feet when most players would have gone down, but he quickly identified the goal was on.

Next is responsibility.

A number of players continuously took on responsibility, always looking to get on the ball such as Neil Ewing, Charlie Harrison and Niall Murphy in addition to others.

The leadership of Kevin McDonnell. Next, the maturity displayed to see out the game when under pressure.

What made this win more credible was what was at stake.

We weren’t playing a side that had nothing to play for.

We were playing a team with a huge league pedigree that contested the Division One National League final four years ago, who needed a draw or win to avoid the humiliation of demotion to the basement division and who also had their Slaughtneil contingent back.

From a Sligo point of view after a poor start to the league, it was pleasing to get four results from seven in this year’s campaign with two wins and two draws and it demonstrates that every team is beatable in this division.

It’s high time that we make a concerted effort to get promoted next year.

Another plus from this year’s campaign was the game time a number of younger players achieved.

There is limited opportunities available with only seven league games a year.

So this experience is vital for their development going forward and with championship beginning in less than five weeks.

Next up is London in Ruislip who by all accounts similar to five years ago are targeting a win over Sligo.

In this year’s league campaign, they have achieved one win and one draw with a minus scoring difference of four which shows they have been reasonably competitive while not getting results.

History tells us that London at Ruislip in May are always a difficult proposition but more on that in a couple of weeks’ time.