Derry digging through defeats ahead of crunch clash with Meath

By Michael McMullan

THERE is nothing that demands a dig like a defeat and Derry have been picking through the bones of their last two outings.

Derry are aiming to put their best foot forward in Saturday evening’s do-or-die Round 2B clash against Meath at Find Insurance Celtic Park.
For coach Martin Boyle, the upcoming game could come down to trying to get a lid on managing momentum. The Monaghan defeat in the Ulster Championship comes to mind.

Boyle applies the term ‘utter rollercoaster’ to a game that took days to even regulate on an emotional level.

Equally important is the need to be more polished in attack. A scoring efficiency of just over 40 per cent against Armagh wasn’t enough after getting so much right everywhere else.

Blaine Hughes didn’t have it his own way on kick-outs while Oisin Conaty’s wings were clipped enough that he couldn’t have the usual major impact.

“For me, and the rest of the management team, the issue was missing (chances),” Boyle said.

“Then it was the confidence and the psychological damage that missing those chances does to a team. We suffered and it drained confidence from us.”

Missing too many chances took Derry into their shell. The slow attacks may have ‘subconsciously’ been a byproduct of the ‘devastating’ Armagh counter-attack, according to Boyle.

“We have to learn from it and the players have to learn as well,” Boyle added.

“Managing those situations better leads to attacking better – attacking with more intent and attacking with more pace.

“Men have to get more separation and ultimately, the execution rate has to improve massively.”

Going back to the Monaghan game, Derry were in full control at half-time but more composure in front of goal would have stretched the margin even further.

“There were large parts of that game we were really, really happy with,” Boyle said.

Their kick-out press and how they attacked and defended was generally impressive. The problem was handling the momentum swings though Boyle also stressed the quality Monaghan brought.

“The word that every coach or manager used in the past was control,” Boyle said.

“Control is a word that you can’t really use now, because momentum swings are massive and the game can get away from you in a short space of time.”

The breeze is a factor that also has to be factored into Saturday’s visit of Meath.

Speaking before the news of Ruairi Kinsella’s ACL tear, Boyle highlighted their range of two-point kickers. They landed 38 in league and championship. Of that, nine came from the boot of Kinsella.

“Meath are obviously a top-level team and achieved promotion to Division One. They’ll be disappointed with their Leinster campaign and  losing to Cork.”

He speaks of their quality and the scoring threats. Derry also have the experience of playing Meath in the first league game of the season, a defeat in Croke Park.

“There’s a lot to look forward to and there’s a lot to be positive about,” Boyle said about Saturday’s game.

“Hopefully the prospect of such a big game will reinvigorate our boys to raise the pitch of their performance and no doubt it will.”

Expanding on how the wind can shape a game, Boyle takes a novel approach. It is rare there isn’t a breeze but it can’t define how a team attacks.

“There’s this notion, in this game, that we have to manage without the breeze,” he points out.

“But you still have to attack, you still have to bring pace and energy and intent to everything that you do with the ball.

“You can let the breeze define your performance. With the really top teams, the breeze isn’t a significant factor and that’s where we’ve got to get to.”

Much of the talk about Derry’s Ulster semi-final defeat to Monaghan was about the Oriel County’s eight two-pointers.

Wind the clock back to half time and Derry had racked up 2-10, but the Oakleafers had failed to take any of their five two-point chances with the wind at their backs.

Boyle feels teams can’t get too bogged down in the impact of two pointers. There are variables like how the game is panning out, how long is left, where the space is and how teams are defending.

“The two-point efforts will come naturally, rather than going searching for them – unless you need them obviously,” he explains.

“The teams that are running up the big scores, they’re not obviously going out to purposely go after two points.

“When they airse naturally and you get the people in the position, most teams are having their best shooters out round the arc. If the opportunities arise, they’re swinging a boot at it.”