Derry hurling manager McEvoy proud despite late Christy Ring Cup defeat to Down

Donal Hughes’ 70th minute goal deprived Derry of a deserved victory and a place in the semi-finals, meaning they will face Offaly in Pairc Esler, Newry this weekend with the winner advancing to the last four and the loser exiting the competition.

It’s winner takes all stuff but if McEvoy can summon this type of spirit from his players again, they won’t be far away.

“There was a huge difference from the league final,” said the Derry manager after the game, “We said to the lads before the game, we have to go back to what we stand for and what we are about. We are a hard working team and we are an honest team. I suppose, we have waited seven months for the last game. Today, we did an honest shift and got caught with a sucker punch.

“We are not out of this competition. Anyone who is going to play us, is going to earn it. I don’t care who we get, we are going to give plenty when we regroup on Tuesday night and Friday night and we’ll go hard at it again.

“There is a work ethic in the team. They emptied the tank and I thought our hurling was better, we were sharper. In turnovers, we wiped the middle third completely. We took over in the second half, which is a great sign. Our shot conversion could improve, but you have got to bear in mind the conditions. There was a lot of pleasing aspects. The four guys who came on did very well as well.”

McEvoy admitted Hughes’ goal had been a sucker punch and said he was disappointed with the decision to send Paddy Kelly off midway through the second half.

“We looked to be in control,” he added, “The ball swerved a little bit in the wind the wing forward (Donal Hughes) got a clear run and up to it. We were comfortable.

"I thought our hurling in the second half was excellent. In terms of performance (compared) with the league final, it was night and day in terms of work rate and in terms of our ability to connect the lines from our forward line to our full back line.

“I am very happy with the lads today, I couldn’t fault them overall. We conceded too many frees and that is something we are going to have to address the next day. We were disappointed to lose PK (Paddy Kelly) and it was a technical kind of foul (first yellow) but the lads really dug in. We made a couple of changes in the forwards that worked and we got runners out wide.

“I thought we had a 10 or 12 percent increase (in effort) across the field. We were happy about that. For about 55 or 60 minutes of the game we were in control, then came the sucker punch.

“It was difficult to come back, but at the same time Brian Óg (McGilligan) came through the centre, we had switched him to midfield, and on another day it is in the net. We had a chance near the end and we were trying to pass it into the net, which was good. It was inches, so there was two goal chances in the last minute of the game, which is a great sign of a team. We have to bring that into next weekend now.”

Derry came out on the wrong side of a number of refereeing decision on the day but McEvoy didn’t want to use that as an excuse.

“The free count was way up, I think it was 12-5 going into half time,” he admitted, “We felt it was hard. Some days, that is the case and you have to suck it up with referees trying to do their best as well.

“We are not using that as an excuse, a couple of them we could’ve improved on as well. The officials have done their best and from our point of view, we gave away too many frees.

“It is hugely disappointing. McGiller (Eamon McGill) said to me another game will bring us on. These guys think about that and they know they will be better again next weekend.”