McGarvey content with Derry's winning start

Derry manager Johnny McGarvey was content after his side’s winning start to the Christy Ring Cup on Sunday.

The Oakleafers were 12-point winners over Roscommon at Find Insurance Celtic Park.

The result came on the back of their relegation from Division Two.

It was a performance that yielded 1-22 from 13 different players without ever looking in any danger.

"We are happy to get the first game out of the way, we haven't played in five weeks,” McGarvey said.

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“It was all about navigating through, getting the win so I'm happy enough with that.”

Derry were five up at half-time after having played with a strong wind at their backs.

They also had to recover from the concession of a 19th minute goal with Cormac O’Doherty making Derry’s goal for Joe Mulholland.

McGarvey pointed to how Derry gave away frees to allow Roscommon a chance back into the game.

There wasn’t any concern about only being five points up having also hit seven wides.

“We weren't overly bothered about the breeze,” he said. “It's a funny thing to say, but it nearly suits us to play against it.

“Whenever you play with it, everybody drops back. Fair enough, we scored some great long-range scores in the first half, Eamon Cass (Cassidy) got one, Coyler (Conor Coyle) got one, but I think it nearly disrupts the game too much. 

"At half-time, we were reasonably happy maybe just with the scoreline, but not particularly with how we were playing at the time.”

Derry pushed ahead but them lost Eamon Cassidy to a straight red card. They hurled well when down a man.

Then when Roscommon had Paddy Fallon sent off, Derry had already bedded back into their control of the game.

“Joe (Mulholland) dropped back to wing-back,” McGarvey pointed out. “Roscommon were playing with a sweeper, which was leaving us with a sweeper and I thought Coyler was just brilliant all day.

“He was sweeping up, he was getting the ball, he was carrying it out for us. You don't want to be down to 14, but I thought we handled the situation fairly well at that stage.”

By the end, Derry registered points from substitutes Eunan Boylan, Ruairi Biggs and Sean Martin Quinn as they pushed for victory.

Next up is a trip to Aughrim to take on Division Three champions Wicklow who were beaten by Donegal on Sunday.

“It doesn't really change anything,” McGarvey said of Sunday’s results.

“We just said to the boys there, the group stages are just about trying to navigate through to get yourself in a position to get to the final. 

"We had a couple of rough days down in Wicklow in my second year here, so we know exactly what it's about.”