Derry must prove we belong at a higher level says Rory Gallagher

The Oak Leafers rounded off their Division Three campaign with victory over Offaly in Tullamore on Sunday to finish level on nine points with promoted Down who will play Division Two football next season by virtue of their two points victory over Gallagher’s team in Newry back in February.

That was a game Derry probably should have won and after finishing the league season in fine form with four wins from their final five games, Gallagher says he’s confident his players have the ability to perform at a higher grade.

“It has been an unusual year for everybody and I’m a lot happier where we are at the end of it than I was before the break,” revealed the Derry manager, “We have a better quality player consistently playing now. We feel we let it slip up in Newry as regards promotion but we all believe we are good enough to play at a higher level and that starts next week against Armagh.

“I’m not sure what team Down had out (against Louth) but it’s very seldom a team goes through a league without winning and that had happened with Louth but, look, we won four out of our last five leagues games but had left too much to do after defeat down in Cork.

“We are producing better quality displays now, we just need greater consistency.”

Gallagher had rotated his squad for Sunday’s game, handing Conor Glass a first senior start in the Derry shirt and while there were the odd signs of ring rustiness from the Glen man, Gallagher was more than pleased with the midfielder’s contribution in the 1-12 to 1-10 win.

“I thought he did well in the first half. There were a few things that didn’t go his way but we are just delighted to get him game-time,” explained Gallagher, “We are looking at the big picture for Conor. Obviously we want the short term impact as well if we can get it but I just think every week he is going to get better.

“I was impressed with him in training this week. He did a number of good things today against Offaly and he’s only going to get better.”

Ethan Doherty’s superb first half goal, seconds after Aaron Leavy had hit the Derry net for Offaly’s goal, was the game’s critical score but Derry were forced to hold on in the second half after having led 1-09 to 1-01 at half-time.

“There was a reasonable breeze in the opening half, not that significant, I’d say about maybe a three point breeze,” added Gallagher, “Obviously the pitch started to get a bit heavy but overall, I was happy to get the win. When you start off from Derry to drive down to Offaly on the morning of a game, the boys showed a lot of character to come out the way they did and deliver the result.

“The overall feeling is, that while we are delighted with the win, we’d have loved to continue to play as well as we were playing in the first half. I was very, very pleased with how we played in the first half. It was a really refreshing attitude, we were good on the ball and took our chances well.

“We probably could have had another couple of scores which was disappointing but yeah, there was a great reaction and great goal after Offaly got their goal. I thought our forward movement and our overall composure on the ball, and our ability to attack, was very positive in the first half.”

The Derry manager said he was disappointed his side allowed Leavy in for a goal Offaly had seldom looked like creating while a return of only 0-3 in the second half was also a concern.

“They hadn’t looked like they were going to hurt us and we would be disappointed with the pressure on the ball and losing a man in the build up to that goal but, look, these things happen and if we can learn from it, it could prove important. It was just a phenomenal reaction to the goal and I was really pleased with the goal we got. For Ethan to go forward and score like that is a big plus. We hit 1-09 in the first half at our ease and it was a good score.

“After half-time we missed a couple of frees and dropped four or five into the keepers hands. The players should have realised to carry the ball in that extra bit with the wind but I never ever felt we were in any danger. Offaly were always at arm’s length and to be honest I thought they benefited from a very soft frees.”

Gallagher once again used 20 players in the game while a number of others are now fit and ready to fight for a spot against Armagh.

“We just held off Emmet (Bradley) and Niall Loughlin who had minor niggles. Had it been a championship week, they both could have played. We used 20 players and Shea Downey was back on the bench. We held Jack Doherty off but would hope he’s there next week as well.

“We are getting a stronger squad but we need to give a far more consistent display. There was a period at the start of the second half against Longford last week and there was the second half overall today.

“When we are good, we are playing really, really way, we just need to be more consistent in how we go about it.”

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