Derry’s prize for persistence

By Michael McMullan

SOMETIMES it’s not about how hard you knock on the door but how often you keep banging.

Welcome to the world of Derry hurlers who eventually got their hands on the Christy Ring Cup.

They lost a first final to Kerry in 2015 and to an Offaly team six years later, who now find themselves in the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

What happened since is a story of sheer persistence.

There wasn’t many queuing to take the job at the start of 2023. Enter Johnny McGarvey.

Saturday was a fourth Christy Ring final on his watch. On the surface, it’s not that big of a deal. Delve deeper and you can see his footprints.

With a constant changing of faces, McGarvey used over 70 players in four years and handed out 41 debuts.

Imagine John Kiely trying to make the Limerick masterpiece while having to keep rebuilding.

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Derry left themselves with an ocean of work to do, yet still nearly pipped Meath in the 2023 Christy Ring decider. It was Kildare 12 months later, a team who have since tasted the Leinster Championship menu.

Last year looked like it would be Derry’s year. They were fancied to topple London but within minutes, the alarm bells were ringing. While the Oakleafers didn’t get fair play from officialdom, they didn’t hurl anywhere near fluid enough. A dangerous combination.

Before a ball was struck this year, McGarvey was looking at another rebuild with 16 new players on board. Sean ‘Tad’ Cassidy, one of the warriors for over a decade, was out with an ACL.

Kerry hammered them by 26 points in the first league game. On a day they led Meath for most of the game, they were pipped with a big call at the end, in the same mould as in Ballycran at the heel of 2023 league season.

When Sean Cassidy was adjudged to have thrown the sliotar, Pearse Óg McCrickard nailed an equaliser that saw Down finish ahead of Derry on score difference. It sent Derry back to Division 2B.

Derry’s Christy Ring season this year was another story of obstacles. A defeat in Wicklow left every game as knockout since. Eamon Conway tore his ACL. Fintan Bradley was forced out after an appendix operation.

Even in the final group game, with Derry needing to beat Kerry, Meehaul McGrath sustained a broken bone in his foot.

The fact he soldiered on for the rest of the game epitomised what Derry have been about.

Eamon Conway in action against London in the 2025 Christy Ring Cup final

Meet an obstacle. Take a look at it. Survey the three options. Knock it down, climb over it or step around. They’ve always picked one. Turning back was never on the radar.

Last Saturday was the perfect finish. Four years of toil morphed into a display of silk and graft, fuelled by sheer belief and hunger.

Connor Melaugh made his first start and hit two goals, backing up his U20 All-Ireland success weeks before. Rian Collins joined the panel when his St Patrick’s Maghera season.

Collins hit two points to set them on their way. Shéa Cassidy came with a scoring burst when Kerry were making a shape near the end.

That was Derry’s scoring power but their win was about so much more. Sean Kelly was a wall in goals. Their defence dug their heels in. Conor Coyle, a converted sub goalkeeper by Sleacht Néill manager Paul McCormack, hurled like he belonged at Croke Park.

Then there was Cormac O’Doherty. A man born to hurl. He was winning Féile medals as a goalkeeper in his first year of U12.

Saturday was his fifth Christy Ring Cup final. He played the same way in them all. Hurled and battled before hurling some more.

This was different, all the pieces came together around him. He was the conductor, the leader and magician.

The fact the final whistle sounded when he had the ball in his hand was ironic. After pucking it high into the Hogan Stand, he sank to his knees.

His first visit to Croke Park was a winning one, in the 2013 Hogan Cup final. Tom O’Sullivan powered a comeback as Pobalscoil Chorca Duibhne beat them the following year.

There was the pain of two club All-Ireland finals. The first, a day when he missed a late penalty when Corofin were already half way across the Shannon with the Andy Merrigan Cup.

Colm Cooper scored the only goal Sleacht Néill conceded all season to pip them two years later.

Later that year, the late Collie McGurk handed O’Doherty his Derry senior hurling debut in a Nickey Rackard Cup final win over Armagh. From that team, Patrick Turner, Meehaul McGrath and Sean Cassidy are part of the winning formula this season.

It was fitting that the second man to lift the Christy Ring Cup after O’Doherty on Sunday was McGrath, who missed the final with injury.

Derry will break new ground in 2027, their debut in the Joe McDonagh Cup alongside Down and Antrim. It has also got tongues wagging about the possibility of a return of the Ulster Championship.

In a way, Derry are at a hurling crossroads now. They were Ulster U20 champions two years ago and added a second All-Ireland U20 B title this season.

St Patrick’s Maghera won the All-Ireland. The county’s minors take on Mayo on Saturday in the Celtic Challenge final. Sleacht Néill are the team to beat in Ulster.

It’s a discussion for later in the year, but there needs to be a focus in pushing on. Look at what Ronan Sheehan and a consistent squad of players have done in Down.

Starting pockets of new hurling clubs across Ireland is important for the GAA but Derry aiming to win a Joe McDonagh Cup, that’s what the real development looks like.

The progress Mickey McCann has made in Donegal is something that hasn’t gone unnoticed. They’ve appointed former player Sean McVeigh as their Head of Hurling.

There will be a big decision to be made when Antrim appoint their new manager. It’s time for Gregory O’Kane, Michael McShane or Johnny Campbell. Perhaps all three. They’ve walked the walk on teams that tick.

Cian Barron of New York in action against Tyrone’s Niall McGarel

The negative side of hurling last weekend was how New York, for the second year in a row, were parachuted into the semi-final stage of a competition geared towards counties needing to develop.

Imagine Johnny McGarvey and Ronan Sheehan having the carrot of an all-expenses trip to New York for a semi-final that doesn’t need qualified for, with the added prize of a final and a chance at silver.

Who doesn’t sign up for something like that? Instead, McGarvey looked around at 16 places in a panel that needed filled after another swoosh of the revolving door. Derry didn’t complain. They dug their heels in even deeper.

It just makes what Cavan last year and Tyrone on Saturday had to look on at seem so unfair. They watched a team walking up the steps to lift a cup that only took 140 minutes to win. Surely the powers that be have to recognise what development really looks like.