Derry Club Football & Hurling original

[Real Talk]

Derry played at a slow pace throughout.  Cavin had a reason to win.... Derry hadn't

Derry management tried out some of their squad players to give them some game time ... non of them really impressed .. but it was great to watch 'Clucky' bringing a whole lot of energy and pace to the game

By some distance i thought Nial Loughlin was their most effective forward in terms of work rate and his goal was a cracking volley

We certainly need all our players fit and ready to go in the Championship

[Topmarks]

I've held my powder dry until the end of the league to give my take, I was hoping it would have been after a league final but not to be.

Firstly, good to win all our home games. I thought we played well against Tyrone, Offaly and Cork. Today  was not great, it felt at times we went through the motions.

I thought Paudie, Gareth, Ethan and CD had strong performances in most games. Lachlan also played well and we need to find a way to get him involved more often. Hopefully our senior players improve as the year goes on. Meenagh did say today some boys didn't get a full pre season and I thought it showed.

I agree with some posts on here in regards to our play. We play a fairly slow controlled build up when attacking. It really only works when everyone is playing at a high intensity with and without the ball. Too often it's sideways and not hurting the opposition. I felt the Meath and Louth games were quite similar where we didn't look like we could hurt them for long spells with our attack looking quite blunt.

It's far from doom and gloom. Lessons to learn in March is not a bad thing. We can build into the championship and an Ulster final is attainable. After that I'm not so sure.

One thing we do need is for everyone to be available as a part from Forbes I'm not sure anyone new has staked a claim for a starting shirt. There is definitely potential in Sean Young and Conall Higgins and the way they're putting Sargent through his paces would indicate they may use him further down the line.

Let's see what the summer brings. Hopefully we can build steadily, and get involved at the business end of the championship.