McErlain praises Derry minors after weathering Storm Kathleen test against Cavan

Saturday's game was played out amid almost hurricane-like conditions at Owenbeg which made kick-passing redundant and twice saw Cavan keeper Cian McConnell forced to contest his own kick-outs when restarting into the breeze. In the end Ruairi Biggs' 43rd minutes goal - the Banagher player scoring Derry's entire second half tally of 1-01 - proved enough to get the home team over the line after a opening half that saw McErlain's go into half-time leading 0-7 to 1-0.

It was never going to be pretty and McErlain admitted afterwards there was little by the way learning either side would be able to take from the game.

“The conditions were just impossible for both teams," explained the Derry manager, "They got a breakaway goal in the first half for their first score and it was just a massive score for them. We got our goal in the second half but we probably felt we left a few chances behind us.

"We’re just delighted to get out with the win. Cavan are a very good side, I said that last time out and you saw that again today.

“We got the first score of the second half and that proved we could score against the wind. We have the ball carriers to do that. There was no such thing as spreading the ball wide today, you needed the support runner off the shoulder. Look, there’s no point me standing here trying to make sense of that game today – it was an absolute lottery."

Derry played with the breeze at their backs in the opening half but all their good early work was undone by a Shane McCabe penalty for Cavan. Derry responded superbly to string four unanswered points together but missed a couple of gilt edged goal chances before the short whistle and McErlain said they were fully aware the second 30 minutes would be a huge test.

Biggs’ early second half point, following an excellent Eamon Young run, got Derry off to the perfect start but Cavan were looking menacing and had clawed it back to 0-8 to 1-02 before Biggs again took the wind from their sails.

“It was literally ‘give’, ‘go’, ‘keep the ball’, just like a small sided game you’d have in training," added the Derry manager about what was said to the players at half-time, "Possession is king and you just hope there is no freak balls into the square.

"Cavan’s a good team and they got a good look at us (in the league semi-final). I’m sure they had a plan for us today but that probably went out the window with those conditions today.

"There’s just no point talking about that game today. We showed serious character and composure playing against the breeze to kick on and win. It’s another experience for the lads.”