Derry hurlers return to Celtic Park to face London

Allianz Hurling League   |   Derry vs. London

Celtic Park   |   Sunday, 1pm

Johnny McGarvey knows the importance of a third league victory as his side returns to Celtic Park for Sunday’s game against London.

The Derry boss is in high spirits and understandably so, following his team’s strong start to the season, which has brought a victory over Tyrone at Celtic Park, and a victory over Donegal at O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny. Each time his team has scored 2-20, and so far, 13 different players have scored, so there is no shortage of confidence in the squad at the minute.

“We’re content with the two wins,” McGarvey stated. “There’s plenty in it that we think we can work with and plenty that we think we can improve on. At the end of the day, we won by 10 against Tyrone and won by seven against Donegal. In terms of getting the job done, we’re happy with where we are at.”

Derry have had to overcome different obstacles in each of their victories so far, a game-changing gale at Celtic Park on game day one, while they took their time getting going against Doneal, scoring just 10 of their first 26 shots.

“I suppose against Tyrone, the breeze played a massive part in the way the game went in the first half,” McGarvey reflected. “It was just about closing it out. Tyrone had a really good spell and we came through it okay. Fair enough the red cards probably played their part in it too. In the Donegal match, they probably dominated the first half, but we hung in there, and as you say, we had chances, we just weren’t very efficient against Donegal and that probably annoyed us a wee bit.

“I thought the first 25 minutes of the second half against Donegal, that’s the standard that we would like to be playing at and that’s the level we would like to be playing at.”

One of the more memorable games in McGarvey’s first season in charge came against London in May, a barnstorming game that required serious character to come through with a win.

“It was a brilliant game of hurling,” he recalled. “They are a good side. Their two results are very different; they lost in Roscommon and then they beat Wicklow fairly handy. They are just a funny team and it’s very hard to know exactly where they’re at. They have a couple of players there, Sean Glynn and Jack Goulding played against us there last year, and them guys are top drawer.

“We’ll be taking nothing for granted. We know we have a big job to do and realistically, we have trained well and we are playing well and we have the match at home; things are in our favour and we expect to go and get the job done.”

New league structure

The new league structure next season means that it is vital to finish in the top three this year, and McGarvey believes that a win over London on Sunday will see his team virtually guaranteed a place in the new Division Two.

“If you win your first three matches, I’d be very surprised if you didn’t go to the league final. Theres no point telling lies about it. I think, with Wicklow and Roscommon to come, we would need another win to be guaranteed, but I would think a win on Sunday would more or less secure us a place in the league final.”

Derry have won two from two this season, defeating Tyrone and Donegal.

It is two wins from two to date, but there is always room for improvement, with McGarvey believing his team’s best is still to come.

“Probably consistency is nearly the word that I would use for it,” he said. “At the end of the day, we want to be looking forward and we want to be winning the league and we want to be winning the Christy Ring, and to get to those sort of standards, you have to create a winning mentality where you turn up every week.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing or what level you’re playing at, you turn up and you perform every single week, and that just takes that wee bit of consistency that we haven’t had yet. We have it in spells and we’re reasonably happy with where we’re at, but in terms of going there and winning these games on the bounce, whether you’re the favourites of the underdogs or expected to win or now, you turn up and you perform, and if we perform at the minute, we’ll win.”