Derry face Monaghan for place in Ulster Senior Football Final

It's the ultimate conundrum. One point down with the last attack of the game; Easy point or take on a more difficult, match winning goal chance?

We all know what Ryan O’Toole would do and perhaps it says more than we’re willing to admit about the present place Gaelic Football finds itself that the Monaghan man’s match winning moment against Tyrone sparked so much debate within football circles.

Those discussions will probably rumble on along a few high stools the country over but O’Toole’s bravery certainly won him one new fan outside the Farney County; Rory Gallagher!

“I would agree with what he did,” explains the Derry boss when quizzed what instruction he would give one of his own players in a similar situation this weekend.

“It was a two on one situation with a player inside so he’s decided to belt it straight away but it was a goal scoring opportunity and I would be more disappointed in my players if they settled for a point to be honest.”

That may surprised those who buy into the lazy labelling of Gallagher as a defensive coach. He’s not, he’s more a football perfectionist who is acutely aware of the significance of ‘three pointers’ at either end. Goals defined last year’s Ulster semi-final between the counties, Gareth McKinless and Benny Heron’s first half strikes providing the platform for Derry's eventual 3-12 to 0-17 victory.

That was made possible however only because of a defensive effort described by Gallagher himself as “colossal” as Conor McManus, Jack McCarron and Gary Mohan, Monaghan’s starting front three, were held to only one point from play between them.

Indeed in the last five championship meetings between the two counties, stretching back to 2007, Monaghan have scored only one goal, Dick Clerkin’s effort in the 2008 qualifiers. Derry meanwhile have scored nine goals in those games.

Derry hit another three in the quarter-final victory over Fermanagh but it was the two scored at the opposite end which really set the tongues wagging. Coming off the back of a league final in which Derry conceded four to Dublin, it prompted question marks over Gallagher’s defence. So, is he concerned heading into Saturday's encounter?

“I’m always disappointed with sloppiness,” he admitted “I’m not overly concerned with the two goals against Fermanagh. I thought the game was more or less done and there were a couple of ricochets that worked in Fermanagh’s favour. However there was defensive aspects of those two goals that I wouldn’t have been happy with.

“Likewise, a couple of the goals against Dublin were very much preventable. We failed against Dublin to deal with a couple of situations and I think they were situations that we have got to get used to and get better at dealing with. Am I overly concerned? No. I would be concerned if I thought our players were not capable of learning but I think they are very capable of learning and learning very, very fast.”

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since that meeting in the Athletic Grounds last year and after their dramatic victory over Tyrone in Healy Park, Gallagher is expecting to be facing a Farney team with a point to prove after the result 12 months ago.

“The way they stayed in Division One, they’ve done that a number of times now over the last six or seven years,” explained Gallagher, “They have a lot of experience, albeit the team is evolving with others coming in who are starting to get experience as well. Look, Monaghan are very comfortable in their own skin. They wouldn’t fear anybody in Ireland, let alone us.

“They will naturally not want the game to develop the way it did last year when they were always chasing a lead and probably needed a goal to get back into the game despite playing very well in the second half.

“They were always fighting back so they’ll be conscious of that but, look, with the best of intentions, the way games can go you have to roll with the punches whatever way it goes for either team. You have to keep fighting and keeping trying to grind out different passages of play and Monaghan are very experienced at that.

“In the first half last year, despite us doing an awful lot of attacking and getting a couple of good goals, the way we defended was absolutely colossal. It was brilliant and undoubtedly gave us a massive foothold in the game. Look, they will try to defend better than they did last year so they can hurt us more but they’ll take an awful lot of solace from kicking 2-17 against Tyrone.

“I think they feel with the addition of Stephen O’Hanlon into their forward line; Killian Lavell is back too albeit Niall Kearns is gone from the middle of the field, but they will feel their own attacking play is on a good footing.”

The Derry boss should have a fully fit squad to choose from barring a late fitness check on Lachlan Murray with Oisin McWilliams back in training and Shea Downey also available. Definitely missing though will be the Under 20 players who appeared in Wednesday night’s final defeat to Down with Gallagher anxious to reach another provincial decider of his own.

“There’s no substitute for big game experience. We’re still relatively new to it and have to learn the pitfalls of it, the pluses and negatives, and the ability to deal with those occasions. I just think the more experience you get of that, the better. I believe it’s hugely important, with the direction we want to go, that we get to the Ulster Final.”