All's well that ends well?

Finishing off the league season with our Division Two status intact was Derry's primary aim over the Easter weekend, but the way in which it was accomplished has left a sour taste in the mouth. And the fact we had to rely on our neighbours Tyrone to get us over the line doesn't exactly help matters.

All is definitely not well.

Relegation issues and final league placings aside, the performance and result in Mullingar was a very poor one from Derry's perspective. Both sides had to win to ensure safety and it was under those circumstances that the Oak Leafers threw away a seven-point lead to eventually lose by eight against Westmeath. Not nearly good enough.

Looking back over the last few games, Derry had shown at least some form: only one defeat in four games - away to Kildare - and wins against Monaghan and Meath. But on Sunday the Oak Leafers regressed. Back to somewhere approaching the poor displays that had blighted the early part of the campaign, resulting in defeat at home to Galway and an embarrassing no-show in Healy Park against Tyrone. Getting outscored by Westmeath in the second-half on Sunday by 1-12 to 0-2, probably ranks worse than what happened against Tyrone, considering it came against a side struggling in general, and not against the in-form team in the country.

So what did John Brennan make of it all then? Well, not one to mince his words, the manager said he was "disgusted" at an "unacceptable" performance.

"It was a complete collapse in the second half, albeit we lost our centre back who was having a very good game. There was a lot of Derry people down here today and I just feel sorry for them. I'm disgusted with that second half performance. I can't put it in any other terms. There was a non-performance by a number of players, I wouldn't mention names, but we missed frees and we conceded scores we shouldn't have conceded. Overall, Westmeath deserved their victory and good luck to them. Thanks to other teams we're safe, but that today was unacceptable. I feel almost ashamed for Derry people. I'm lost for words."

But really he wasn't lost for words, and the Lavey man uses some pretty strong adjectives there to articulate just how disappointed he was with how things transpired in Cusack Park. It's refreshing to hear a manager actually come out and say what he really thinks rather than wheeling out the same tired old rhetoric about 'bad days at the office' and 'things just not going well for us'. What Brennan and his management team plan to do to get Derry in shape for June is another matter completely, but at least they're not burying their heads in the sand.

Sitting at home with mobile twitter updates in one hand, and a Cadbury's Creme Egg in the other, Oakleafers Blog certainly isn't going to pontificate on the whys and wherefores of an extremely disappointing result, but it didn't sound good. "Complete collapse" sums it up quite well and indeed it was an amazing turnaround. Barely half an hour gone and Derry held an 0-8 to 0-1 lead. Tyrone were also comfortable against Monaghan, but it didn't matter, the Oak Leaf men were doing their own work. Home and dry. Paddy Bradley had kept up his good recent scoring form by kicking four points, while Enda Lynn and Sean Leo McGoldrick appeared to be worrying the Lakemen's defence, getting themselves on the scoresheet. Ryan Scott and Barry McGoldrick also chipped in with points as Derry made the most of the wind advantage.

Half a bag of Mini Eggs later and the news from Mullingar was not so good. The Lakemen were performing their own version of the resurrection. Fifteen minutes into the second half the sides were level, with Derry reduced to fourteen men following Dermot McBride's second yellow card. It seemed as if Westmeath were laying seige on the Derry goal, and the Oak Leafers had no idea how to stop the rot. Denis Glennon soon had the home side in front, and when James Dolan scrambled the ball to the net it was game over. The wind was a factor and the personnel deficit also had a bearing, but there can be no excuses for coming out of Mullingar with an eight-point defeat.

Derry's achilles heel in this league campaign has been the inability to win enough possession. Clearly this was a big issue again on Sunday, and has been the key reason for the Oak Leafers conceding an average of 16 points per game. We've scored well enough in bursts, but haven't given ourselves a chance at the other end. That level of point and possession concession just isn't sustainable. Gerard O'Kane and Dermot McBride have both been missed, as has a settled half-back line. John Brennan has serious work to do with his defence and also in devising and implementing some sort of defensive strategy that can limit the damage done when we don't have the ball. 1-16 against Louth and 1-15 against Westmeath? These teams are far from world-beaters.

The presence of Michael Friel would also have been missed in Mullingar. The Swatragh player was man of the match against Louth and the midfield appears to function more effectively when he's in there. Brennan has plenty of options in this area: Friel, PJ McCloskey, Patsy Bradley, Joe Diver and James Conway (and possibly John McCamley if he regains fitness), but following this league campaign, the Derry manager is likely no closer to knowing what his preferred midfield line-up is.

All in all, this is an NFL campaign best forgotten. It started badly and finished even worse. With 10 weeks until we play in the Ulster SFC, there is time to put things right. The players will be able to play for their clubs now for a few weeks and hopefully come back to the county setup fresh for the tough challenges that lie ahead. John Brennan will also hope his squad gets fitter in that time period, because he needs a full selection to choose from. At the moment Derry are throwing their chips onto the Championship table without really knowing their hand.

Some other thoughts:

• On a different day things might have ended up with Derry sitting in Division Three next season, but following relegation from Division One in 2010 by a solitary point scored, and missing out on promotion last year on scoring average, perhaps we were due a bit of luck.
• It was Monaghan who benefited from our relegation in 2010, two years later they're in Division Three. What goes around...
• Derry's only two victories came against Monaghan and Meath, who were both relegated. Both sides are far from their best of a few years ago. The Oak Leaf form line is very worrying indeed. 
• Another aside to the Monaghan/Meath thing - both team's scoring average was better than Derry's. Looks like that point against Louth (as predicted) turned out to be a very valuable one.
• We should have known Westmeath would win on Sunday as all historical pointers would have suggested. The last time the sides met on Easter Sunday it was 1994 and the Oak Leafers were current All-Ireland champions. The Lakemen won an NFL quarter-final against us that day having come from Division Four! 
• Division Two next season: Armagh, Laois, Galway, Derry, Louth, Westmeath, Longford and Wexford. Once bitten and all that, but the very notion of relegation from that lot shouldn't even be on the agenda. Division Two and Division Three look quite evenly matched for 2013.
• A bad week all round for Derry, with the Under-21s losing their Ulster semi-final against Cavan. It's an excellent Breffni side, who went on to capture the title, but on top of our problems at senior level our lack of underage success is another (possibly more significant) worry.