Derry hurling boss Dominic McKinley not reading too much into Donegal win

McKinley and Cormac Donnelly saw their side overcome a poor first half after which they trailed 0-10 to 0-07 to eventually ease away from a team they could meet again in the promotion play-off on the weekend of March 26th/27th. With Brian Og McGilligan, John Mullan and Meehaul McGrath in fine form, the victory rubber stamps Derry's position as favourites to secure a spot in Division 2A next season but McKinley says Sunday was simply another stepping stone toward getting to where they want to be.

"The first half was disappointing," admitted the joint Derry manager, "We were shooting from angles we shouldn't have been shooting from, we weren't getting into the scoring zone and were very wasteful. We gave away a lot of turnovers with our backs coming out with the ball, something we have been working very hard on, trying passes we shouldn't have been trying.

"For the second half, a bit more fluency came in and one or two stood up like Brian Og (McGilligan), Meehaul McGrath whom I thought were very good and inside, Odhran McKeever and Deaghlan Foley started to show. Gradually as it went on then the scores started to come.

"When you're playing against the breeze it suits the other team at the back. You hit the ball out and it is hanging up the air and that suits backs. It was suiting them first half and kept them in it. We were working the ball out maybe too much instead of getting it into our inside line and that was all we said at half-time.

"We told them, 'It's time men stood up'. We were looking individuals and we questioned Brian Og; we questioned John Mullan, Odhran McKeever, Deccy (Deaghlan Foley). We told them it was time they put their hand up and imposed themselves on the game and they did that. That's what they did, they started to impose themselves on the game. John and Brian must have caught four or five (high balls) and then Deccy and McKeever started.

"It's infectious and leads on to other players lifting it but no, we'll not read a great deal into it. We are in the final, something we set out to do. We tried it last year and things didn't work, we didn't have a good enough panel. This year, as I said, our panel is 36 or 37 and it shows people want to hurl for Derry. There is a good vibe within the panel and today is another stepping stone going forward."

Both counties had gone into Sunday's game with perfect league records after three games and McKinley said they were always expecting a tough test, especially after losing half-backs Richie Mullan and Eamonn McGill, as well as forward Tiarnan McHugh in the build up.

"It was never going to be easy," he explained, "We lost two half-backs who are very influential, Richie (Mullan) and then Eamonn (McGill) who we lost on Thursday night. Niall Farren and Conor Kelly came in and did very well but it's a big upset to a team to take two half-backs out, particularly with how we play ball through the hands and get the ball into the delivery zone and so on.

"In the second half John Mullan and others imposed themselves on the game and that's what you want. Then Gerard Bradley coming on, he gave us that wee bit of finesse and quality.

"This was a tough game. We had the utmost respect for Donegal coming in here. I thought we were a but nervy to begin with and some of our players maybe didn't deal with it we way we hoped but they will learn from that."

With the Oak Leaf footballers and hurlers both on unbeaten league runs, the Derry boss was quizzed on whether he could see a scenario in which he welcomed dual players such as Brendan Rogers or Chrissy McKaigue.

"There is always an avenue. If Brendan Rogers or any of those boys told me tomorrow that they wanted to play hurling but honestly, I've never even went down that road, I haven't even thought about it," explained McKinley, "They want to play football and are glued into that and looking to progress to maybe an Ulster or All Ireland or whatever in two or three years.

"Remember this debate is going on 30, 35 years at least. I remember Brian McGilligan and Tony Scullion, Kieran McKeever and Henry Downey and all those players and these same arguments went on at that time. It's time those arguments were all left behind.

"If any of those players want to play hurling, then we would look at it but the championship is so confined. We would be delighted if boys wanted to come but I don't think it will happen."