WITH time to reflect on Wednesday night’s Celtic Park rollercoaster, Derry U21 manager Fergal P McCusker admitted there was a concern as Armagh had control in the second half. Speaking today to the County Derry Post, the Glen man was proud of how his side pulled through.

“I thought it was running away from us when we went three points down in the second half, 1-10 to 0-10. We didn’t look like getting a score, we couldn’t get out and they had a serious bit of work on our kick-outs.

“We hung in there. I have to say there is a brave bit of fight and spirit in this team.  They dug it out for themselves and it’s a credit to them.”

With Armagh in the ascendancy, McCusker signalled out midfielder Patrick Kearney for praise: “I thought Patrick gave us a wonderful shift in the middle of the park.

"I was a bit fearful when he scored the first two points off either foot that he was going shoot all night.  We have coaching at him, getting him to do the basics. If he does that he is a brilliant footballer.”

The Derry boss acknowledged the contribution of club colleague Danny Tallon and Shane McGuigan in attack but pointed to vital scores from Eamonn McGill, Dean Curran and Peter Hagan.

On top of the grit, pulling out a victory against the odds, racking up 0-21 was pleasing and McCusker wants his teams to express themselves.

“We have a duty of care to play football in the right way. I was brought up playing a different type of football, maybe we are a bit naïve in what we are trying to do.

“I don’t believe in playing a pile of men behind the ball. I believe in having a defensive structure of course but players have to express themselves and enjoy their football too.  We want them to go out, work hard at the basics and play ‘heads up’ football.  Kick passing if it’s on - nothing travels faster than the ball.”

Before half-time, Derry began to struggle and carried the ball into contact, coughing up possession time and time again.

“We spoke about it at half-time, a couple of times Patrick Kearney carried it into trouble, Jack (Doherty) and Paddy Coney. With county defences you are going to be turned over, you don’t have the same time on the ball.

“We tried to commit men to try and get ahead of the ball, giving the ball and go again. In that spell (before half-time) we carried the ball (into contact) and paid the price.”

At the end of normal time, Derry were ahead but two wayward shots from Danny Tallon and Tiarnan Flanagan gave Armagh the opportunity for one last throw of the dice. They obliged and Oisin O’Neill kicked a score to force extra time.

Once again the break in play was well used, with the simple messages passed and Derry were a different proposition in extra-time.

“We spoke about giving the ball away cheaply, we spoke about having good decision makers, we spoke about having the right finishers on the ball. To be calm and the opportunities would come. We knew we had the legs.

“They (Armagh) had good footballers, but they were good big footballers and they did run out of steam and we were able to pick holes in them. They hung in there too, you have to give them credit - they are not a bad side either.”

Despite a full round of club action fixed for this weekend, McCusker’s squad will have the sole focus of preparing for Monday’s Final against Donegal (Athletic Grounds 8pm). It is Derry’s third U21 decider since 1997, losing the last one to Down in 2008.

“We are straight into recovery mode now, we have ice baths tonight and tomorrow night, we’ll get together on Saturday afternoon. There is nothing we can work on now that is going to change, we’ll do a bit of video work and look at few things we have to improve on.”

On the topic of the busy schedule, McCusker continued: “There are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is the games are coming thick and fast.  Donegal are in exactly same boat, albeit they had an easier run through last night.  It’s hard to beat a good tight game of football for preparation – you can’t buy that sort of stuff.”

In McCusker's Derry team of the 1990s, Donegal were regular opponents and in recent times the counties have again begun to cross paths with regularity.

“We’ll not underestimate Donegal, they’d be massive favourites, they’ve been together since they were 16 years of age and Bonner (Declan) has been with them the whole way up. They’ll have a gameplan, they play the same kind of football.

“The counter-attack, they turn you over and they break at pace. They have some massive players who could hurt you if you give them room – we’ll try and prepare as best we can.”

After the seniors getting relegated, the newer generation of Derry player has a better record against the top teams. Derry beat Donegal in the 2015 minor championship and lost narrowly at minor and U21 grade in 2016.  The Glen players have the winning feeling over Gaoth Dobhair at club level.

“Yeah that’s right and we definitely won’t fear them and we have had success against them, I know it is a different level but there are the players involved with Glen and Gaoth Dobhair (U21s) as well.

“The slate is clean, it is completely different now. It’s a final, it’s a one off and I just hope we perform.  If we perform, we should get the result.”

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