Damian Barton admitted that Derry just weren’t good enough to beat Tyrone at Celtic Park yesterday.
For the third Championship game running, Derry fell to their great rivals on a 0-22, 0-11 scoreline, with Mickey Harte’s side never getting out of second gear.
The Celtic Park crowd exceeded 10,000 for the highly anticipated encounter between the two great rivals, but there was never a contest on the field with Sean Cavanagh and Mark Bradley starring for the Red Hands.
The contest was over long before the final whistle and Barton admitted that his team were simply second best.
“We didn’t get ahead of the ball and were very static going forward,” he reflected. “We didn’t get inside that often. We had a couple of chances where we had an overlap, we made the wrong decision. Obviously decision making is a big part of this game and we need to learn there too.
“I knew that if we could bring it a wee bit closer, even if we could hit the net we were in with a chance. As it is, Tyrone went back up the pitch and scored the next two scores – there was five points in it. Five points becomes six, six becomes seven and so it goes.”
It was Derry’s third clean sheet in a row, something to take into the qualifiers but after last year’s crusade – it’s a long way back.
“There are division one teams in particular, Tyrone being one of them - that are maybe that yard ahead of everyone else in terms of development, in terms of the level they are playing at,” Barton continued.
“We have to realistic, we were good in the qualifier last year and obviously the down side of last year is that we have to go back and get to at least the quarter-finals this time.
“We’ll give the boys a week off, I couldn’t ask for any more than what they have given us over the last number of weeks.”
Going into the game, getting continuity into the side has been a major flaw in preparations. Shane McGuigan was the 71st player used by Damian Barton over two seasons.
Neil Forester (injury) and James Kielt (suspension) were forced out of the reckoning – but Thomas Mallon and Padraig Cassidy opting out of the panel fled Derry to a further reshuffle.
"I'm glad you're keeping those stats,” Barton replied. “You know the story. People do things by choice, this is not a chore - playing for your county is a very honourable thing and whether it's New York or Sydney, even Perth.
“People are going to games and putting Derry jerseys on their, of all ages. Really and truly that's what it's all about - Derry is a community as all these people are. For whatever reason people walk away and I don't want to dwell on them, they're no good to Derry and they're no good to me.”
Barton pointed to the performance of one of the debutants. “I thought Niall Keenan was exceptional, whenever he moved across to mark Mark Bradley in particular, who caused us a few problems.
“You look at the personnel we had on the pitch today, four debutants, the age profile is much younger and with that there I the lack of experience – that’s the only place you get it. We’ll gather together again and we’ll move on.”
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