Championship Ends for O'Moore Men in Breffni defeat

Derry 1-18  

Laois 2-11

All-Ireland SFC

Qualifier

NOT even the sight of their talismanic former manager Mick O’Dwyer landing, Bond-like, in a sleek black helicopter adjacent to their warm-up on a back-pitch at Kingspan Breffni Park, was enough to inspire Laois to football’s last eight as they became the latest victims of the dreaded ‘Curse of The Beaten Provincial Finalists’.

In every season but one since the qualifiers were introduced, at least half of them have lost their next game, and Laois followed Galway as this year’s big casualties.

In contrast, Derry’s ecstatic fans hailed their ‘Kings of the Back Door’ after their unbeaten three-game qualifier run which propelled them into the quarter-finals for the first time in three years.

As delighted boss Paddy Crozier admitted, they have improved immeasurably with each game since losing to Monaghan. “If you’d have told me then that we’d make the last eight I’d have laughed at you!” he chuckled. “But fair play to the boys, their camaraderie is great, they took two big scalps (Armagh and Mayo) and now this, so we’re in the hat now which is great.”

The omens were always good because of Derry’s remarkable ‘back door’ history.

Saturday night’s win in Kingspan Breffni Park maintained their phenomenal qualifiers record - played 19, won 15 - that leads the nation. Laois justifiably quibbled about one or two refereeing calls, especially an unheeded late penalty claim for Brendan Quigley in the dying minutes, but accepted they were always second best.

They did well to trail by only a point at half time (0-9 to 0-8), with Fergal Byron contributing a particularly great save from Mark Lynch, and they levelled it immediately on the restart.

They even equalised a second time thanks to wing-back Pauric McMahon’s super 45th-minute goal, and battled bravely to the end, but the four-point winning margin does not reflect Derry’s dominance, with Enda Muldoon, Paddy Bradley, Paul Murphy and defenders like Gerard O’Kane and Kevin McCloy in flying form.

Sharper

Right from the throw-in Derry’s sharper touch and attacking fluency showed just how much they have found their groove through the Qualifiers.

Defender Darren Rooney’s injury absence didn’t help against a big, powerful side who thrive on the overlap yet defeated manager Liam Kearns deserved credit for making quick early switches when they trailed 0-5 to 0-1 after 13 minutes.

Just seven minutes in he spotted the mismatch between Joe Higgins and Paddy Bradley and switched Tom Kelly on to the Glenullin danger-man to contain him to 0-3 (2f) by the break.

While guilty of some terrible finishing, nippy Derry corner-forward Colin Devlin gave Cathal Ryan an early roasting and he was quickly replaced by Rory Stapleton.

Laois again played an extra defender - Peter O’Leary moved to wing-back and Brian McCormack was the ’sweeper’ - which, initially, back-fired as it left Derry with their own spare defender to clean up at will.

But when Crozier sent Francis McEldowney forward to mark ‘Bruno’ and cut off the short kick-outs, it had the desired effect, opening up space to attack and when Laois ran through it the Ulstermen looked vulnerable.

That it was such an open, running game was reflected by Laois defenders scoring 1-2 but that too showed a worrying lack of penetration up front.

Once again Colm Parkinson, playing in a two-man full-forward line with long-time injury absentee Kevin Fitzpatrick (who started for injured Beano McDonald), was excellent, scoring two splendid successive points before half-time and levelling the game 45 seconds after the restart.

But his ability to beat his marker (Michael McGoldrick) was a too rare exception amongst Laois’s forwards.

Ross Munnelly was well marked by Sean Marty Lockhart and the return, later, of long-time injured Derry captain Kevin McGuckin to quell Parkinson’s effect, was another huge fillip for the winners.

Considering Derry had shot as many wides in the first half as frees they received (seven) they should have led by way more and, as Kearns noted, the interval came at the wrong time for Laois who were just finding their rhythm.

Derry regrouped, raced three points clear again with Bradley finding his fantastic range, only for McMahon’s goal to level it.

Derry responded immediately with another two points and then got a great goal, made by Bradley breaking a booming free for the excellent Paul Murphy.

Laois went 13 minutes without a score until sub Billy Sheehan benefited from a similar break off Brendan Quigley who, anonymous in a badly ineffectual Laois midfield, did much better when pushed up to full-forward late on.

Kearns admitted he would far prefer to play the Timahoe star up front but, in Noel Garvan’s absence, needed him more elsewhere; the story of his first season in charge, which he confessed was “frustrating because we were fire-fighting so often with injuries”.

Sheehan’s goal cut the deficit to two points with 10 minutes left but Laois had nothing left. Kearns said: “Our legs gave out then, the match against Dublin caught up with us in a very fast game, but the lads gave it everything and I’m very proud of them.

SCORERS - Derry: P Bradley 0-7 (5f), P Murphy 1-2, C Gilligan 0-3 (2f), M Lynch 0-2, G O’Kane, F Doherty, J Conway and C Devlin 0-1 each. Laois: M Tierney 0-4 (3f), P McMahon and B Sheehan 1-0 each, C Parkinson 0-3, J Higgins, B McCormack, P Lawlor and R Munnelly 0-1 each.

TEAMS AND PLAYER RATINGS:

DERRY - B Gillis 7; M McGoldrick 6 , K McCloy 8, G O’Kane 8; L Hinphey 6, S M Lockhart 8, F McEldowney 8; F Doherty 8, J Conway 7; M Lynch 8, P Murphy 8, E Muldoon 9; C Devlin 7, P Bradley 9, C Gilligan 5. Subs: J Keenan 6 for Hinphey (ht), K McGuckin 7 for M McGoldrick (48), R Wilkinson 5 for Murphy (inj 54), G Donaghy for Lynch (61), Patsy Bradley for Gilligan (67).

LAOIS - F Byron 8; A Fennelly 7, J Higgins 9, C Ryan 5; P McMahon 6, T Kelly 6, B McCormack 8; P Clancy 6, B Quigley 5; P O’Leary 7, P Lawlor 6, C Parkinson 8; R Munnelly 6, K Fitzpatrick 5, M Tierney 6. Subs: R Stapleton 7 for Ryan (22 mins), B Sheehan 7 for Lawlor (42), D Brennan 7 for Fitzpatrick (59).

REF - J McQuillan (Cavan).

- Cliona Foley

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