We may as well start with the moment that turned the game on its head.
It is usually too simplistic to write off the analysis of a game as having been decided or even destroyed by poor refereeing, but Saturday's McKenna Cup final falls into that very bracket.
The reasons why the dubious sending off of James Conway turned an impressive Derry start and comfortable five point lead into an inevitable defeat is something that will concern John Brennan this week, but the red card decision itself was very harsh on Derry. Conway and Colm Cavanagh seemed to engage in little more than arbitrary holding so what urged Fermanagh referee Martin Higgins to pull the red card out of his pocket is something of a mystery. The near linesman shook his head to signal nothing untoward had taken place, but Paudie Hughes - on the other line, 80 yards away - reckoned he saw something that warranted a straight red. Bar some impressive histrionics, it's difficult to imagine what this possibly could have been.
Unfortunately this was the game's key turning point and Derry never recovered. As mentioned above, Brennan will be keen to work out why the performance level of his side dipped following Conway's dismissal. The loss of a midfielder is possibly the most difficult sending-off to deal with in Gaelic football. For Derry it meant having to remove Cailean O'Boyle from his encouraging full-forward berth to help out Joe Diver around the middle. The Oak Leaf attacking options had immediately been curtailed and Tyrone had extra space to work the ball out of defence and set up attacks. This was best demonstrated by the amount of time Tyrone half-backs Cathal McCarron and Dermot Carlin had on the ball.
The disruption in the structure of the Oak Leaf personnel was obvious as they struggled to hold onto their five point advantage. Tyrone picked up a few handy frees and Eoin Mulligan's goal in first-half injury time underlined Derry's loss of concentration, which had deteriorated after the sending off. It had manifested itself in slow play, lack of support running and poor passing. Tyrone took full advantage.
For Derry to have had any chance in this game they would have a required a three or four point lead at the half, but with the sides going in at 1-5 apiece it already felt as if the game was over.
The second half was a non-event and it will be hard for either side to take anything out of it. Derry struggled to win primary possession and any ball that did come their way tended to be coughed up too easily as men in space were at a premium. But this was a young and inexperienced team that finished the game for Derry and they would always find it difficult against a Tyrone side who can play against 14 men in their sleep. The surprise at the end was that the Oak Leafs had been beaten by only three points.
To their credit, Mickey Harte's men were pretty emphatic in closing out the victory once they knew the game was there for the taking. Michael Murphy looked confident at midfield and the two Donnelly's bolstered an attack that already contained the likes of Stephen O'Neill and Eoin Mulligan. Following a raft of retirements at the end of 2011, Harte will be satisfied that his squad still contains a number of players who look ready to fill in the gaps.
All the positives for Derry in this game came in the first 20 or so minutes when they were in complete control. Conleth Gilligan was looking sharp, and the linkup play between himself, Paddy Bradley and O'Boyle looked like it would pay continuous dividends. The forceful running and finishing of Mark Lynch provided a further option in attack, and with Diver and Conway winning possession readily, the Tyrone defence struggled. Derry displayed some thoughtful variation to their attacking play, with the direct, long ball threat leading to Paddy Bradley's exceptionally well taken goal.
Sean Leo McGoldrick and Gerard O'Kane provided a steady link between defence and attack, but O'Kane's withdrawal through injury was another early blow to Derry's chances. The Glenullin man has caused Tyrone problems in the past and the Red Hand outfit would have been keen to eliminate his threat. O'Kane picked up what looked like a knee injury when three Tyrone men dragged him to the ground.
A disappointing night, but the result is one that will not be dwelled upon. Tyrone v Derry games - be they McKenna Cup, NFL or All-Ireland quarter-final - take on a life of their own, develop an edge out of something or other and by the end of the seventy minutes you want to be on the winning side. But Saturday night will be quickly forgotten, with the season starting for real next week against Galway. Though Brennan will not want his team to struggle as badly again, even if they do find themselves numerically disadvantaged.
The manager and his selectors will be happy on the whole with the McKenna Cup campaign. Five decent games with different levels of opponent and various outcomes will give John Brennan food for thought. He will have a reasonable idea of his starting team for the majority of the NFL. He will know which players are potentially capable of filling some of the problematic positions (for which the next three months will be something of an audition). And he will be well aware of what he wants the spine of his team to contain come June.
Of course it would have been nice to land a second successive McKenna Cup, but the big challenges posed by the 2012 season have yet to even begin.
Some other thoughts on Saturday's game:
The full-back line wasn't tested aerially by the Tyrone attack, but Liam Morrow looks comfortable at full-back and is favourite to start the NFL in that position. In the absence of Kevin McCloy and Kevin McGuckin, Derry could be doing with him fitting right in.
Dermot McBride's footballing ability will allow him to play at centre half-back, but he is needed primarily for his man-marking skills at corner back. However, Brian McCallion and Ryan Dillon look like valid corner-back options.
Cailean O'Boyle is displaying a huge improvement this season. He is proving to be a valuable addition to the forward line, offering a new threat in that line.
2-8 is a decent overall return when you really only play well for about 20 minutes. If the forwards can stay healthy and if Eoin Bradley can return to full fitness, this Derry side should not have a problem putting points on the board.
Eoin Mulligan, Colm Cavanagh and Joe McMahon are all big men. It's amazing the ease with which they can fall to the ground. Mulligan's acrobatics in the second half were particularly laughable.
Tyrone's half-time charade of waiting as a group until the Derry players went into the tunnel made it look like the Oak Leafers were the instigators of any on-field tensions. Tyrone had cleverly brought themselves back into the game, maybe Derry need to become more street-wise in that regard?
The atmosphere at the game seemed somewhat subdued. Perhaps Tyrone's second half dominance contributed to that, or maybe we were trying to behave ourselves in front of Peter Robinson?
Expect the atmosphere to be cranked up a notch or two in a fortnight's time in Omagh. The intensity of the game will jump a couple of levels also.
