Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[shawshank]

Before commenting on the heavy defeat to Galway yesterday let us get rid of some of the more self inflicted negative characteristics of the woeful performance by Derry yesterday.First and foremost,except sometimes when you are playing a lesser team,no team should EVER give up an advantage if they win the toss to play with a very strong wind as was the case yesterday.

To do so against a side of Galway's calibre and potential was a cardinal error in the extreme.It reminded me of the 2017 All Ireland minor final against Kerry when Derry management decided to mark David Clifford as if he were just an ordinary player. Since that time circumstances have constantly proven the fallacy of that tactic.

So, yesterday's decision to play against the wind was also totally unfair on the whole Derry team,especially the goalkeeper and the defenders.That fateful decision was compounded when two normally reliable defenders made uncharacreistic individual errors which led to two opportunist goals.Admittedly the concession of the third goal was rather fortuitous  but the net result was that the game was over at half time.

Psychologically the team was destroyed because they had not experienced such a first half pummelling in any of the other games and understandably found it difficult, despite their best efforts, to make any real inroads into the deficit during the second half.

Another growing characteristic of this Derry team is the indiscipline amongst some of the more experienced players.Most of the team are very disciplined but the real test of discipline is how you react when you are  losing or beaten fairly to the ball.Sadly two of our best players fell by the wayside in this regard yesterday.Both of them have earned a reputation for getting booked regularly and this is not good for the morale of the vast majority who always adhere to the rules.If Derry is to make meaningful progress all their best players have to be always on the field of play and available at all times.

As Michael Wilson stated accurately in the Derry Journal this indiscipline yesterday had no bearing on the result but it could have in subsequent games if Management do not address this with a sense of immediate urgency as we do not want to see other players being dragged into this mire of unnecessary sideshows.

None of us really expected Derry to win yesterday but most of us expected a Rory Gallager led team to be at the least very competitive, if not able to sneak a victory.However, even if the team had played with the wind in the first half all the evidence is that Galway have a lot more quality footballers than we have at present.Galway in terms of ability have always had a first Division material team but for a variety of reasons they have been very inconsistent.Unfortunately, we came up against a side at their brilliant best yesterday. Admittedly  our "wind" decision helped them considerably to show that undoubted brilliance.

Nevertheless, despite this heavy loss, we must remember that Galway performance set the benchmark for First Division Football and showed that Derry are essentially a mid division Two football side at present.The challenge for Rory and the Management is how to bridge that gap between the top tier and ourselves.Hopefully, when all the promising young players fully develop, Derry will achieve that.In the meantime, it is vitally important that Management and players get together immmediately to learn the lessons of yesterday,both sides admit their mistakes and mutually  plot their future strategy for success.

A good win against Meath would restore any flagging morale and prepare us for the Ulster Championship.If Tyrone can recover from what happened against Kerry in their League game last year by winning the All Ireland, Derry can  at least make their mark in the Ulster Championship!

Thats a fair and sensible summary

[shawshank]

Mal reporting that Oisin McWilliams has a broken jaw.

I didn't clearly see what happened. Thats unfortunate for the lad.

[toby47]

That will be Oisin McWilliams season over. I missed the incident, never seen it from where I was sitting so can't comment on if it was intentional or not.

If McKinless is done for eye gouging what sort of ban could he get, is there any previous bans for this in GAA? Could a ban for a league incident result in missing a championship match at all?

[screenexile]

That will be Oisin McWilliams season over. I missed the incident, never seen it from where I was sitting so can't comment on if it was intentional or not.

If McKinless is done for eye gouging what sort of ban could he get, is there any previous bans for this in GAA? Could a ban for a league incident result in missing a championship match at all?

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-s-donie-smith-set-to-get-one-match-ban-for-keith-higgins-incident-1.3775714

He might get away with a one game ban. The offence should probably be worth more of a suspension though.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

That will be Oisin McWilliams season over. I missed the incident, never seen it from where I was sitting so can't comment on if it was intentional or not.

If McKinless is done for eye gouging what sort of ban could he get, is there any previous bans for this in GAA? Could a ban for a league incident result in missing a championship match at all?

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-s-donie-smith-set-to-get-one-match-ban-for-keith-higgins-incident-1.3775714

He might get away with a one game ban. The offence should probably be worth more of a suspension though.

wouldnt have him about me if proven guilty

[lenny]

That will be Oisin McWilliams season over. I missed the incident, never seen it from where I was sitting so can't comment on if it was intentional or not.

If McKinless is done for eye gouging what sort of ban could he get, is there any previous bans for this in GAA? Could a ban for a league incident result in missing a championship match at all?

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-s-donie-smith-set-to-get-one-match-ban-for-keith-higgins-incident-1.3775714

He might get away with a one game ban. The offence should probably be worth more of a suspension though.

wouldnt have him about me if proven guilty

Thought the same. He's totally let down his teammates, his manager and his county. If you could be confident it was a one off you might be prepared to give him a second chance.

[toby47]

That will be Oisin McWilliams season over. I missed the incident, never seen it from where I was sitting so can't comment on if it was intentional or not.

If McKinless is done for eye gouging what sort of ban could he get, is there any previous bans for this in GAA? Could a ban for a league incident result in missing a championship match at all?

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-s-donie-smith-set-to-get-one-match-ban-for-keith-higgins-incident-1.3775714

He might get away with a one game ban. The offence should probably be worth more of a suspension though.

wouldnt have him about me if proven guilty

Thought the same. He's totally let down his teammates, his manager and his county. If you could be confident it was a one off you might be prepared to give him a second chance.

What's done is done, so its just the disciplinary committee to make a decision now.

So if they decide he's guilty you'd give him the road? if they decide it wasn't a gouge you'd keep him? No matter what the decision is, the action was the same. The decision shouldn't change your opinion.

[tbrick18]

I didn't see any football over the weekend due to other commitments but I'm not surprised that Galway beat us.
I am surprised by the manner of defeat.

I've been saying for a while that I thought Div2 was our level right now and I do think if we did get promotion to Div1, we would get hidings like the one against Galway. Galway have shown they are a Div1 team in my eyes and so we have a true reflection on where we are right now.

I'm not knocking the team by the way, we are in a period of progression. My hope is that over the next 1/2 years we can discover some more scoring forwards and become a more credible prospect for Div1.

IMO, Gallagher is doing a good job with the players at our disposal. We have a unified panel all pulling in the right direction and have some quality young players coming through. My hope is that we can challenge in Ulster (let's face it, Ulster is wide open unless Tyrone get their act together)  and that we can continue to progress next season.

Having not seen any of the disciplinary incidents I can comment, but eye gouging is a nasty act. If true, he should get the full sanctions applicable.
It would never happen though that a player is excluded forever from a panel forever and a day due to on-field antics. I can't think of any county team that has ever done this.

[Derry Optimist]

 When Derry team management  and players sit down tonight to analyse what went wrong last Sunday against Galway, it should not take either party long to reassess the situation and plot the way forward for a convincing display against Meath next Sunday.

Derry were a good team before last Sunday and they are still a good team.Likewise the management were an excellent combination and they still are. Costly mistakes,admittedly,were made but they can be easily rectified.So, no one should be too despondent as the best way to overcome any obstacle is to face it immediately and the Meath game provides an ideal opportunity to do that.

With the enforced absences of Oisin McWilliams and Gareth McKinless, I would recall Shea Downey who had an excellent match against Offaly to replace McKinless in the half back line and Shane McGuigan to come in instead of Lachlan Murray in the full forward line. Hopefully Jack Doherty and Micael McEvoy who has not appeared so far are fit to take their place in the match day squad instead of the two absent players. Doire Abu

[Wildweasel74]

Biggest problem trying to go short on kick outs when all men is covered, better take your chances going long to Midfield, maybe lose it there instead of between the 30 and 21 line, Gallagher sort blamed that keeper for that, but if that's drilled into u ever training session, it should been communicated to the keeper to go long.

[restorepride]

When Derry team management  and players sit down tonight to analyse what went wrong last Sunday against Galway, it should not take either party long to reassess the situation and plot the way forward for a convincing display against Meath next Sunday.

Derry were a good team before last Sunday and they are still a good team.Likewise the management were an excellent combination and they still are. Costly mistakes,admittedly,were made but they can be easily rectified.So, no one should be too despondent as the best way to overcome any obstacle is to face it immediately and the Meath game provides an ideal opportunity to do that.

With the enforced absences of Oisin McWilliams and Gareth McKinless, I would recall Shea Downey who had an excellent match against Offaly to replace McKinless in the half back line and Shane McGuigan to come in instead of Lachlan Murray in the full forward line. Hopefully Jack Doherty and Micael McEvoy who has not appeared so far are fit to take their place in the match day squad instead of the two absent players. Doire Abu

Is McEvoy still on the panel?

[toby47]

When Derry team management  and players sit down tonight to analyse what went wrong last Sunday against Galway, it should not take either party long to reassess the situation and plot the way forward for a convincing display against Meath next Sunday.

Derry were a good team before last Sunday and they are still a good team.Likewise the management were an excellent combination and they still are. Costly mistakes,admittedly,were made but they can be easily rectified.So, no one should be too despondent as the best way to overcome any obstacle is to face it immediately and the Meath game provides an ideal opportunity to do that.

With the enforced absences of Oisin McWilliams and Gareth McKinless, I would recall Shea Downey who had an excellent match against Offaly to replace McKinless in the half back line and Shane McGuigan to come in instead of Lachlan Murray in the full forward line. Hopefully Jack Doherty and Micael McEvoy who has not appeared so far are fit to take their place in the match day squad instead of the two absent players. Doire Abu

Is McEvoy still on the panel?

Nope

[restorepride]

When Derry team management  and players sit down tonight to analyse what went wrong last Sunday against Galway, it should not take either party long to reassess the situation and plot the way forward for a convincing display against Meath next Sunday.

Derry were a good team before last Sunday and they are still a good team.Likewise the management were an excellent combination and they still are. Costly mistakes,admittedly,were made but they can be easily rectified.So, no one should be too despondent as the best way to overcome any obstacle is to face it immediately and the Meath game provides an ideal opportunity to do that.

With the enforced absences of Oisin McWilliams and Gareth McKinless, I would recall Shea Downey who had an excellent match against Offaly to replace McKinless in the half back line and Shane McGuigan to come in instead of Lachlan Murray in the full forward line. Hopefully Jack Doherty and Micael McEvoy who has not appeared so far are fit to take their place in the match day squad instead of the two absent players. Doire Abu

Is McEvoy still on the panel?

Nope

Thanks - that's what I had heard but wasn't sure.

[Blowitupref]

That will be Oisin McWilliams season over. I missed the incident, never seen it from where I was sitting so can't comment on if it was intentional or not.

If McKinless is done for eye gouging what sort of ban could he get, is there any previous bans for this in GAA? Could a ban for a league incident result in missing a championship match at all?

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/roscommon-s-donie-smith-set-to-get-one-match-ban-for-keith-higgins-incident-1.3775714

He might get away with a one game ban. The offence should probably be worth more of a suspension though.

It's reported that he's got away with a one match ban.

[restorepride]

Hopefully a big response after the Gaillimh game from the team tomorrow v an Mhí. Important to get a win for morale  Strong team named, Paudie Tad starting.