Drawing comfort

County footballers know more than most: there are good days and bad days, but never easy days...

All of us who had the home game to Louth earmarked for a handy two points, will now know the folly of writing any team off at this level of inter county football. Underdogs or not, the Wee county came up to Celtic Park intent on claiming their second win of the NFL campaign, and they came very close to doing it.

This was an entertaining game played in beautiful conditions, but most Derry fans will have left Celtic Park shaking their head in wonder at how their side had managed to throw away a late four point lead as a spirited Louth team snatched a draw. John Brennan's outfit looked like they had the job done. A comfortable cushion. An opposition who's scoring had dried up. Enough possession and chances to kill the game dead. But it didn't quite work out. Louth dominated the last five minutes (plus injury time) scoring four points, and even had time to kick two scorable frees wide, that might have had those Derry fans shaking their heads even harder.

The first half had been nip and tuck, but Derry were lucky to go in at the break level. Darren Clarke had been the very definition of a thorn in the side all afternoon and he grabbed the game's only goal in the first five minutes, but his side had clear-cut goal chances aside. Brian Donnelly blasted wide when through on goal in the first minute, and in the final minute of the half, Barry Gillis had to get down quickly to make a point blank save. These moments highlighted Louth's ability to carve scoring chances for themselves. The Derry rearguard had been put under pressure the whole half, ostensibly because of the inability of the home side to stop attacks at source. Louth were deploying a counter-attack style. At times they had twelve men behind the ball, yet could still break in time to create scoring chances at the other end.

Meanwhile, Derry were showing a mean streak in front of goals themselves. Paddy Bradley (0-7) and Conleith Gilligan (0-6) were the chief providers, while Enda Lynn and Blaine Gormley constantly provided a link from midfield to attack. Lynn especially was a constant menace, and the Louth defence could not get to grips with him. He can open up the attack for the likes of Bradley and Gilligan to slot the scores, and can also draw frees. He's in good form. But the Oak Leafer's ability in recent games to get men behind the ball and smother the opposition was missing in Celtic Park - as Louth broke at pace - and John Brennan would have been a concerned manager at half-time.

Whatever the Lavey man said at during the break must have had an effect on his team, because Derry's second-half performance was an improved one, and much closer to what Brennan is trying to achieve with his side. Michael Friel was in dominating form. He won a mountain of possession, but most impressive was his ability to break play up in defence. A tireless showing from the Swatragh man, and it may not have been a coincidence that Derry lost their way towards the end when he was forced off through injury. Paddy Bradley was deadly in front of goal, and Eoghan Brown - playing in a deeper role - and Sean Leo McGoldrick were displaying the rigour necessary to keep the Oak Leafers on the front foot.

A four point gap had been opened up (0-18 to 1-11) with ten minutes to play, and then the game changed back in Louth's favour. Peter Fitzpatrick will have been delighted with how his side fought back. Darren Clarke (who totalled 1-7 for the afternoon) was the stand out player for the away side all afternoon, and it was his point deep into injury time that brought the sides level for the final time. Yet Clarke had already let Derry off the hook. Just a few minutes earlier he had missed two successive frees - the likes of which he had been putting over the bar with minimum fuss all afternoon.

It added some credence to the idea that Louth deserved something from this game. And there's no question about that, but as John Brennan alluded to after the game, Derry lacked composure and possibly experience in closing the game out. We looked keen to kick another couple of points at the end, but holding onto possession should have been the primary concern with time running out. It's an edge and a nous that Derry must develop if they are to win games they don't necessarily deserve to. You're never going to play well for a full seventy minutes, but you must minimise the damage when things aren't going to plan.

Despite the disappointing end to proceedings, there are positives the Derry squad can take from this game. Some of our approach play and score taking was excellent. 19 points is no bad return, and as we've covered many times before, the Oak Leaf forward line can hold their own with the best of them. We also showed a lot of character and patience during that second half. Louth may have had twelve or thirteen men behind the ball at times, but Derry frequently waited for an opening, holding onto possession before a chance emerged and were generally clinical in front of the posts. However on another day we might have scored a couple of goals to ram home our advantage (and then Louth wouldn't have even been considering a comeback).

It's hard to get too excited when we've just went toe to toe with Louth and come out with a draw, but we're a work still in progress. There's been an improvement as the NFL has worn on, and while some areas of the side still need work, other areas have clicked quite well. And there's plenty of time until the championship starts.

As far as the Division 2 league table is concerned, this might actually prove to be a decent point. We now have five points to show for our travails to date, while Westmeath, Meath, Louth and Monaghan are all still behind us on four points. In other words, we control our own destiny, and of the many permutations that might decide our fate in this NFL campaign, the most important one is this: win against Westmeath in Mullingar and we'll be safe.

Some other thoughts from Sunday's game:

• The full spectrum of what is good and not so good about this Derry team was on display under the Celtic Park sunshine. At times we dominated and scored at will. At times we were dominated and conceded scores too easily.
• When the Oak Leafers were dominating the midfield exchanges in the second half, Louth went short with every kick out. This gave them enough possession to keep themselves in the game. We did not deploy such a tactic late in the match when the midfield tide was going against us. This is not something that can just be switched on during a game as it needs practice, but probably deserves consideration.
• Louth have a lot of big men in their side - a physical outfit. John Brennan probably called upon Patsy Bradley to replace Neil Forrester as early as he did to try and add more size to Derry's lineup.
• In the last ten minutes, Peter Fitzpatrick brought on Brian White, Andy McDonnell and Aaron Hoey. All good footballers. Louth should have won Leinster in 2010 and certainly haven't become a bad team overnight.
• There's been a lot of talk about Louth's 14th point actually being wide. Hard to tell from the back of the stand but it looked more like the ball had went to the left of the post (and wide) rather than to the right of it. There certainly wasn't conclusive enough evidence for the umpire to go scurrying behind the net to raise his little white flag. The man best placed was the linesman on the stand side who was close to being right behind the ball. He didn't want to get involved though, for fear of having to make a conclusive decision on something. Probably a Fine Gael man.
• Gerard O'Kane and Dermot McBride have missed the most of the NFL campaign, but they should hopefully be fit in time for the Championship. With Derry having conceded an average of over 15 points per league game, their presence will be welcome.
• Great to see Eoin Bradley among the substitutes and involved in the warm up. He most likely has a bit to go to reach full fitness but his return will be an excellent tonic for the Oak Leaf squad come June.