Derry hurlers open with a win over Sligo in rain swept Celtic Park

Derry 2-14, Sligo 1-14.

Derry senior hurlers set aside disrupted pre-season preparations to grab an opening day Division 2B victory over an improving Sligo who, on the back of successive promotions, gave the home side plenty to do in terrible conditions at Celtic Park on Saturday.

The wind howled in from the Brandywell end, accompanied by icy showers. As hands numbed by the cold, struggled to hold the slippery caman, the rain ran off the helmets into players eyes. It was more a lottery than a game of hurling but for Derry it was an important opening win.

Manager Dominic McKinley had little time to get a full squad together due to the Ulster club successes of Slaughtneil and Banagher. The visitors, managed by Galway man Padraig Mannion, were extremely fit but largely dependent on free taker Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch who scored all but two of their points. The infusion of three Galway club players has certainly

given Sligo a real boost!

Derry had that extra bit of experience that saw them home more comfortably than the final scoreline would suggest. A converted injury time penalty which saw Richie Mullan yellow

carded was expertly dispatched by O’Kelly-Lynch, one of a number of the visitors who had come up though the under age ranks.

Derry keeper Oisin O’Doherty found a team mate with every one of his first half puck-outs into the wind while in the second half, big Sligo net minder, Matt Davey made some smart

saves but regularly saw his puck-outs intercepted by a Derry forward.

About 100 hardy supporters huddled into the back seats of the Tommy Mellon stand to escape the bitter wind but in truth the fare on display would not have raised any blood

pressures. With a trip to bogey team Wicklow next Sunday a big improvement is needed but Derry may welcome back Brian Og McGilligan who missed the game through injury.

Two first half goals by Gerald Bradley in the ninth minute and Tiernan McHugh 11 minutes later laid the foundations for Derry’s victory. At every opportunity O’Kelly-Lynch

converted his frees, a few of which left Derry players looking a bit baffled.

Sligo, with a one point interval lead, packed their defence in the second half making it difficult for Derry to get the ball to their inside men. Their extra sharpness allowed them to mop up a

lot of the breaks but all along it was frees that kept them in the game.

Derry faced the first half elements and were three behind in the opening seven minutes via the free taking of O’Kelly-Lynch. The alert Gerald Bradley levelled the game when he

intercepted a clearance by keeper Davey and returned the ball to the net.

A Cormac O’Doherty free was quickly cancelled out by O-Kelly Lynch. In between, two more Sligo converted frees O’Doherty split the posts for Derry. On 20 minutes Derry were ahead when Tiernan McHugh picked up a poor clearance and fired across keeper Davey to put Derry 2-2 to 0-6 in front. On the balance of play slightly fortunately!

Gerald Bradley, from a John Mullan pass, put Derry three in front but three O’Kelly- Lynch frees and one from play by Andy Kilcullen left the Yeats men 0-10 to 2-3 in front at half time.

The wind had eased slightly but was still a useful advantage as Derry quickly wiped out the Sligo lead. A minute in wing back Meehaul McGrath levelled with a fine solo effort. From

the puck out Richie Mullan was then fouled and the ever reliable captain Cormac O’Doherty made the sore 2-5 to 0-10.

The young and vibrant visitors had no intention of flying the white flag as O’Kelly- Lynch levelled with a massive free into the wind. A brace of O’Doherty frees had Derry two in front

by the 43rd minute.(from 10 frees he scored nine and one dropped short into the first half wind).

It might have been mid afternoon but the gloom descended to such an extent that that the last 20 minutes of the game were played with the floodlights on. When debutant midfielder

Darragh McGilligan intercepted a wayward puck out to make the score 2-8 to 0-11 there was little chance of a Sligo comeback as the rain lashed down leaving the normally pristine Celtic

Park surface difficult to play on.

A further O’Doherty free and a point from Darragh Foley put five between the teams but battling Sligo made a mini comeback with another O’Kelly-Lynch free and a well taken score from

full forward Andy Kilcullen leaving the score 2-11 to 0-13 going into the last 10 minutes.

With six minutes left Derry nerves were jangling as he visitors ace free taker cut the home lead to just three points and Derry were struggling with the pace of the Connacht men. Cormac O’Doherty (2f) and sub Tiernan McCloskey in a quick burst made it a six point game.

In added time O’Kelly-Lynch ran straight into Richie Mullan, both ending on the ground with Mullan getting injured. O’Kelly-Lynch clinically dispatched the penalty to net for the last action of a game that was more a feat of endurance than a hurling match. Both were probably happy with their lot. A victory for Derry and a morale boosting effort from Sligo who only two years ago were unable to field to Derry in the Christy Ring Cup.

Derry scorers: Cormac O’Doherty 0-9f, Gerald Bradley 1-1, Tiernan McHugh 1-0, Meehaul McGrath, Darragh McGilligan, Tiernan McCloskey and Deaglan Foley 0-1 each.

Sligo scorers: Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch 1-12 (12f, 1-0 pen), Andy Kilcullen (0-2).

Derry: Oisin O’Doherty, Ciaran Hendry, Mark Craig, Darragh McCloskey, Meehaul McGrath, Richie Mullan, Eamon McGill, Cormac O’Doherty, Darragh McGilligan, Sean Kelly, John Mullan, Jerome McGuigan, Deaglan Foley, Gerald Bradley, Tiernan McHugh. (Subs) Tiernan McCloskey for G Bradley, Padraig Nelis for T McHugh, Gabriel Farren for R Mullan.

Sligo: Matt Davey, Niall Kilcullen, Mark Hannify. Kevin O’Kennedy, Tony O’Kelly-Lynch, Rory McHugh, Finn Connolly, Finian Cawley, Patrick Foley, Michael Munnelly, Gerard

O’Kelly-Lynch, Conor Hannify, Joe McHugh, Andy Kilcullen, Kevin Gilmartin. (Subs) Gavin Connolly for T O’Kelly-Lynch, Thomas Cawley for J McHugh and Liam O’Kelly-Lynch for

K Gilmartin.

Referee: James Connors (Donegal)