'A different level is needed to beat Down' - Johnny McGarvey

National Hurling League Division 2A   |   Derry vs. Down, Owenbeg, Saturday, 2pm

Between the recent outstanding provincial club endeavours of Slaughtneil, Ballinascreen and Swatragh, and Derry’s Under 20s winning Ulster Championship, the small ball game is in a great place in Derry.

Johnny McGarvey has Derry senior hurlers in fine fettle too as they look to make their presence felt in a very competitive National Hurling Division 2.

Gerald Bradley’s first half goal proved crucial to Derry’s opening round win over Tyrone at Healy Park. The O’Neill County hurled out of their skins and pushed Derry to the brink, before John McGarvey’s men dug deep to eak out a vital victory.

Down at Owenbeg on Saturday will present a meatier challenge, however. The Ardsmen blasted out of the blocks to defeat fancied Kildare by three points on Saturday, notching up 2-19 in the process. That result, and Derry’s under par performance at Healy Park has certainly given McGarvey and his management team much to ponder.

“Down at home will take a better performance,” acknowledged McGarvey, “a much better performance. Down beat Kildare. Your home matches are very important. If Down are beating Kildare at Ballycran, that’s a totally different kettle of fish (to what we produced at Healy Park). Our levels of intensity levels will have to go way, way up.

“I thought we were very passive against Tyrone. I don’t think we were intense enough in the tackle. They dictated, maybe, the way the game was played. Definitely for Down this week it will have to be completely different level we bring.”

Despite not really manoeuvring out of second gear in their opening fixture, the Lavey man did see his side ground out a vital victory and they did so without three players that would grace of Derry’s rivals

The loss of key men Cormac O'Doherty, Ruairi O Mianain and Paddy Kelly could have derailed any side first day out. However, that influential trio were replaced in the starting line-up by goal scorer Bradley, Callum O'Kane and Shea Cassidy who all put in a hell of a shift. Midfielder Ryan McGill and Christy McNaughton also raised their hands for the Man of the Match award, with the Lavey midfielder just edging the accolade this time.

Of the missing men against Tyrone, McGarvey offered: “It was maybe a week too early for some of the players and maybe two weeks too early for another one or two. Ruairi and Cormac came back from the club season carrying injuries and we hoped they’d be ready for today but, look, it just didn’t happen. We lost PK (Paddy Kelly) late in the week and that was a big blow.

“Decky Foley, hopefully, will be available for next week as well. These boys are not only good hurlers, but good leaders. We have leaders all over the pitch but that standard of player that we were missing against Tyrone, nobody is blessed with.”

Derry manager Johnny McGarvey is hoping for a better performance from his team against Down this weekend.

The Derry boss is hoping to see one or two of those absentees available to play Down.

“Definitely two should make it back in contention for Down,” he said with a note of optimism. “We’ll be back in recovery this week and see where we are then.”

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And while Championship is always king in hurling with Derry hoping to go one step further than their recent Christy Ring final defeats, McGarvey acknowledges the importance of a decent league campaign.

“It’s not something we have any real emphasis on,” he explained, “and I said that at the start of the week. We don’t want to be caught up in a relegation fight. Everything about our whole season is built around having a go at the Christy Ring. But look, there’s ambition there, we’d love to win it. We’d love to get promoted. We set out to win every match. There’s no real emphasis on winning the league, we’ll take it as it comes and build our season as we go. It’s a very exciting division and I’m excited to see where it brings us to.”