Derry hurlers impressive as they sail into Christy Ring Cup final

Christy Ring Cup

Derry 0-30

Mayo 1-11

DERRY made sure of a Croke Park date and a place in the Christy Ring cup final with an accomplished display in the Owenbeg sunshine on Saturday afternoon.

Johnny McGarvey’s side knew a victory would secure their spot in the decider and with bottom of the table Mayo coming to town many expected they would not slip up and in truth nothing but a home victory looked on from start to finish. However, while dominating it wasn’t until the final ten minutes of the opening period before they began to pull clear despite always looking on top.

Catching the eye was the scoring exploits of both Paul Cleary (7) and Corey O’Reilly (5) all 12 points from play while Cormac O’Doherty rowed in with nine to his name.

Awaiting in the final will be Meath who came out on top in the winners takes all clash with Sligo, the Royal’s overcoming Derry already in the competition. Since that defeat McGarvey has saw his side respond emphatically particularly in London with that confidence boosting victory that meant they came to Owenbeg knowing what they had to do and not worry about any other results elsewhere.

They quickly went about the task with four points inside the opening five minutes. John Mullan who was a handful for the Mayo rearguard throughout got the ball rolling before O’Doherty fired over a free following a foul on his midfield partner Meehaul McGrath, then a super effort from Darragh McGilligan and a first of the day for Cleary give the large home support plenty to cheer.

Joseph McManus with a free for the visitors got them off the mark before both sides were guilty of missed opportunities before Cleary ended a scoreless eight minutes spell. O’Reilly out on the stand side fired a beauty before two in a row kept Mayo hanging on by the 23rd minute as surprisingly just three points separated the sides.

The sides traded points, Eamon Conway for the Oakleaf county before Mayo almost snatched a goal when a delivery dropped short and Daniel Hill got a connection but it went the wrong side of the upright. A scare and maybe a wakeup as Derry hit four in a row O’Doherty, Cleary (2) and  John Mullan opening up a 0-13 to 0-6 interval lead.

On the resumption Derry quickly went about making sure Mayo were not going to be getting back into the game. O’Doherty to the fore with his sides first three points of the half while Mayo hit one from a McManus free. Conway, O’Doherty and McGilligan all raised the white flag as a trip to Croker edged closer for the home side.

While Derry were in control there were still flashes of danger from Mayo but Oisin O’Doherty was secure when ever called upon and defensively Derry were firm with Richie Mullan sweeping up. A further four unanswered with some of the highest quality from O’Reilly (2), Cleary and O’Doherty.

With the contest all but decided it allowed the management teams to use their bench but both Cleary and O’Reilly were still lighting up the affair with their point taking. Mayo got their reward with a goal from Fergal Boland which will have disappointed the home side as it looked like it they were on their way to keeping that clean sheet in tact after conceding four in London. It didn’t matter though as for the second week in succession Derry hit the 30 point mark and what was even more impressive was all but four of these were from play.

It brought the curtain down on the group stage but not the end of the road and a chance of silverware awaits on June 3rd in Croke Park. No doubt Meath will be a harder test but it has all the ingredients of serving up a very tasty dish and in those wide open spaces and that movement of the Derry forward line it could well be a very good day indeed.

It completed a fantastic day in Owenbeg with the U17 hurlers advancing to the Corn William Robinson Celtic challenge final with a comfortable victory over Meath in the curtain raiser. This all coming after the U20 all Ireland success, the county is on a high in the hurling front to add to the footballing success.

Teams

Derry: Oisin O’Doherty; Sean Francis Quinn, Mark Craig, Paddy Kelly; Sean Cassidy, Richie Mullan, James Friel; Cormac O’Doherty (0-9, 4f), Meehaul McGrath; Eamon Conway (0-2), Corey O’Reilly (0-5), Darragh McGilligan (0-2); Sean Kelly (0-1), John Mullan (0-3), Paul Cleary (0-7).

Subs: Eoghan Cassidy for Conway (54), Pádhraig Neilus (0-1) for Kelly (59), Cathal Quinn for Cassidy (62), Aimon Duffin for Craig (65), James McCloskey for McGilligan (66).

Mayo: Bobby Douglas; James Lyons, David Kenny, Conor Murray; Mark Phillips, Gerard McManus, James Murphy; Cormac Phillips, Fergal Boland (1-2); Michael Farrell, Daniel Hill, Jason Coyne; Eoin Delaney (0-2), Joseph McManus (0-5, 4f), Adrian Phillips (0-1).

Subs: Kealan Gallagher for Farrell (47), Luke Connor for Murphy (50), John Heraty (0-1) for Hill (54), Barry Lane for Douglas (56), Paddy Dozio for A Phillips (65).

Referee: James Connors (Donegal).