Tyrone Turn Over New Leaf

"Let's not beat about the bush; we had the game won."

Damian Cassidy's response in the aftermath of his side's defeat to Tyrone was brash. He was letting Mickey Harte know that Derry could have easily won this game; but beneath the bullish bravado, the Bellaghy man will be extremely disappointed that they didn't.

In the end, the smiles and hugs abound in the Tyrone warm-down, and in the - probably colder - confines of the Healy Park stand, bore testament to the joy Tyrone felt in recording an important league victory and the enthusiasm with which a win over Derry is greeted in this part of the world.

It was a game where Derry had been masters of their own destiny, and the failure to achieve the required result from that platform, will rankle with Cassidy and the Derry squad. With three minutes remaining the sides were level, but Derry heads dropped in these closing stages after Eoghan Brown's missed free, and the Red Hands didn't need a second invitation to mop up the remains.

The game was effectively lost in these dying moments of the game after what had been an encouraging second half performance, but the seeds of defeat had been sown during the first half. Derry looked aimless during an opening period that was riddled with errors; poor decision making, bad passing, a failure to find space, and a large amount of turned over possession contributed to Derry's first half downfall.

It was a million miles away from the football Derry have been trying to play this season. Football that lit up the games against Dublin and Westmeath. But Tyrone are a different animal, and (in direct contrast to their opposition) Derry failed to turnover any possession in the opening period. This goes some way to explaining why Sean Cavanagh and Owen Mulligan had so much space to set up attacks, and why the marauding half-backs Davy Harte and Sean O'Neill were able to pick off points at ease.

Meanwhile the Oakleafers were getting bottled up in a packed Tyrone defence. The wing half-forwards of James Kielt and Paul Young (not the ideal position for either player) failed to provide an outlet for Derry coming out of defence. As a result, Derry's attacks were ponderous and predictable. Paddy Bradley's accuracy in front of the posts kept his side in touch, but as Cassidy pointed out post-match, Derry were lucky to be trailing by only 0-8 to 0-5 at the half-time break:

"In the first half Tyrone should have been more ahead. We were lost in the middle of the mire that was going on. Our players were struggling with the type of gameplan that Tyrone were working to. Half-time couldn’t come quick enough for us."

Things improved dramatically in the second half. Derry hit five points without reply, as the introduction of Brian mullan enabled Derry's tactical gameplan to get back on track. (And the Glenullin man might just have done enough to cement his place for May.) Coupled with a domination of midfield (as Patsy Bradley and Enda Muldoon regained their good form from the previous week), the Oakleafers were suddenly in control of the game with Muldoon, Paul Murphy and Eoin Bradley landing scores.

Unfortunately, the 0-10 to 0-8 scoreline was about as good as it got for Derry. Tyrone soon pulled level, before a dramatic fall from Sean Cavanagh duped the referee into signalling a penalty for the home side. Shane McGuckin saved Mulligan's effort to keep Derry in the game, and despite retaking the lead from a Paddy Bradley free, the Oakleafers couldn't push on to close out the win.

It was an incident-packed game in Omagh, with Tyrone showing their (too familiar) dark side when Tommy McGuigan kneed Sean Martin Lockhart between the legs. He was very lucky to escape without a red let alone a yellow - and he went on to score two important frees. Ryan McMenamin has already received censure following the Kerry game in February, and Mickey Harte can take this one to the European Court of Human Rights if he so wishes, but a retrospective suspension for the Ardboe man would be richly deserved.

Unsurprisingly Harte was still pleased after the game as his team took a step towards avoiding relegation:

"There are defining moments in your season and this is possibly a defining moment for us. I knew the boys were well up for this game and I knew that we often come out fighting when our backs are against the wall and I’m very pleased. It takes a degree of pressure off (as regards relegation), but at this time of year performances are even more important and I felt performances were better than results suggested."

Derry may never have a better chance to help relegate their rivals. Damian Cassidy was correct when he said Derry had the game won, but they lacked the cutting edge to actually win it. Playing well in patches didn't help their cause either. After dominating the second half against Galway also and only getting a draw, Derry have shown an inability to get scores at the crucial times. There's a facet of play to work on as the Championship approaches.

All in all, Derry won't be too worried with the loss. It's never a good thing to lose to Tyrone, but perhaps the Oakleafers will learn more in defeat. And there's a lot to learn, as Derry's new style of play struggled for consistency against top class opposition. It happened at the beginning of the month against Kerry also. There's no doubt Derry have improved this season, but to beat the best teams in the country there is much more work to be done.

DERRY: S McGuckin: G O’Kane, K McCloy, SM Lockhart: P Cartin, B McGoldrick (0-1, free), SL McGoldrick: Patsy Bradley, E Muldoon (0-1): J Kielt (0-1), P Murphy (0-1), P Young; Paddy Bradley (0-6, three frees), E Bradley (0-1), Paul Bradley. Subs: B Mullan for Paul Bradley (25 mins), K McGuckin for B McGoldrick (57 mins), E Brown for Young (58 mins), J Diver for Muldoon (60 mins).