More Doom and Gloom than 'Va Va Voom'

A few lengthy days have now passed since the disappointment of Sunday's performance in Casement Park. The second round of the Club championships is already underway, and this is usually as good a way as any to cast inter-county aspersions aside for one long weekend. However, Ballinderry's suspension from this year's Senior Championship has cast a huge shadow over this weekend's games, and is likely to linger for the remainder of the competition.

It has been a poor month for Derry football - both on and off the field - and at this rate, the season ain't going to get much better.

Anyway, to Casement Park then (gulp!), and Thursday is probably a safe enough distance from which to look back at Sunday's proceedings, and the many thoughts that have followed.

A quick scan at Monday's depressing bunch of papers outlined in heavy bold what we all already knew - Derry had not been good enough. And to make matters worse, most commentators all seemed to agree that Sunday's win was a mere stepping stone for the all-conquering Tyrone, as they brushed the derby challenge aside without having to barely break a sweat.

Monday's edition of The Irish News could have been mistaken for an issue of Top Gear (I assume there's a magazine to accompany this questionable TV show... Google confirms that - predictably - there is), such was the leaning towards vehicle metaphors by their writers. Kenny Archer must shoulder most of the blame for his piece that claimed Derry failed to match Tyrone's "va-va-voom". I can't disagree with much of that, but saying that Derry had been crushed "as if they were a tax-dodger’s vehicle" was perhaps a bit much!

Paddy Heaney continues the theme by saying that the Oaks had been "tanked", and that Tyrone would now "refuel before preparing to dismantle either Antrim or Cavan on July 19." He also tells us that Tyrone are looking close to being the finished article. Many Derry fans - if they weren't doing so already - will start to nod in resigned agreement, having witnessed Sunday's game.

Eamonn O'Hara chose to use the tried and trusted Shakespearean theme to tell us about Derry's "midsummer nightmare". The "toil and trouble" bit certainly rings true, but he neglected to tell us that the great bard never wrote a tragedy such as this. Any romantic tales will be put away for another day as the qualifier route looms for the Oakleafers.

Before I leave the Irish News' extensive offerings I must question Brendan Crossan's match report. He claimed the following: that "Eoin Bradley was lucky to escape with a yellow card after kicking out at Ryan McMenamin"; Barry McGuigan was also lucky to escape red after "gratefully accepting a yellow" (for his clash with Brian Dooher); and that Kevin McGuckin "pursued and lashed out at Sean Cavanagh". Three innocuous incidents in the course of the game that were highlighted and dressed-up. Tyrone were obviously blemish-free.

Time to move down to the southern press, and there's Sean Moran of The Irish Times banging on about a "driving-seat". What was in the tea in that pokey Casement press box anyway? He outlines the all-too evident differences between the sides:

"Tyrone were simply too accomplished for their struggling opponents. Their drifting, support game is so well practised that they can effortlessly enact complex strategies. This constant, meaningful movement – players picking out each other accurately and at pace and moving into space – was in contrast to Derry, who rarely managed to elude their markers when attacking and more than once the attacking runner showed little vision of which colleagues had got free and where."

Moving to The Irish Independent, and Martin Breheny's report talks about Tyrone "cruising" into the Ulster Final (hmmm... I should probably give him the benefit of the doubt!):

"Derry were far too predictable in their movement and were ultimately let down by a power failure in attack. Three of the starting six were replaced but it made no appreciable difference on a day when Derry's All-Ireland prospects took a serious knock."

A knock indeed, and one from which Derry have less than three weeks to dust themselves down, to try and stitch their season back together, piece by piece.

At least there's always someone worse off than yourself, and it is Roscommon who are holding that most dubious of honours this week. After their 20-point drubbing by Mayo at Castlebar, the Roscommon Herald likened their side's performance to that of the Kilkenny footballers...

Hopefully things won't get that bad for Derry!