Derry still searching for a first win

DERRY face into a must win game on Sunday and Paddy Tally accepts the challenge as they bid to avoid the drop from Division One.

Their comeback to snatch a draw with Galway is the only point the reigning champions have from their opening four games.

They face Ulster champions Donegal in Ballyshannon on Sunday but the test will be picking themselves up from Saturday’s 3-20 to 2-12 defeat at the hands of Dublin.

“It’s a challenge for us all,” Tally said of this week in the Derry camp. “Everybody in that group has to really get back up again and this is going to be tough because it’s going to be a hard one to digest.

“We have to pick out through the bones (of the Dublin defeat), see what was good, what worked for us.

“We know that next week we go to Ballyshannon and it’s going to be really difficult. Donegal are on the crest of a wave at the moment.

“We really do need the points at this stage, so we need a performance next week, and I’d like to think that there’ll be a kick in the team.”

The Oakleafers will finish their campaign against Mayo (H) and Armagh (A) with their place in the top flight still in their own hands, but it is going to be a tall order.

Ciaran McFaul missed the Dublin defeat after reporting a tight hamstring in the warm-up while Niall Toner was forced off early in the game with a similar issue.

On a day when Dublin outscored them 1-10 to 0-0 in a middle third of the game, there were few positive points to cling on to.

Defender Martin Bradley made a good impression in his first start. Cahir McMonagle notched a point on his first start while Paudi McGrogan got more time on his comeback from injury. There was also a return for Niall Loughlin.

Tally spoke about the Dublin result being “desperately disappointing” after some impressive football against Kerry and digging out a draw against Galway after trailing by nine points at half-time.

“We thought we were going the right way,” Tally said. “We thought in the second half against Galway, that we showed a lot of what we would expect to be doing.

“We were completely outplayed by Dublin. It just leaves you a bit lost but we haven’t an awful lot of time to think about it.

“We have another game this weekend and now these matches towards the end of the league are really going to define our survival in Division One.”