Mickey Harte realistic as Derry hold on to defeat Kerry in Tralee

And it was once again Cormac Murphy's boundless positivity that provided Derry the opportunity to put the seal on a victory they looked to have let slip. The Magherafelt flyer doesn't do 'keep-ball' and he was the right man in the right place to drive at the heart of a Kerry team eager to cap a remarkable fightback. The safe option was to maintain possession, walk away with a draw. But Murphy gambled and Shane McGuigan cashed in to give Derry a first top flight league victory since April 2015.

It was little more than the Oak Leafers deserved and even if most of the pre and post match chat centred on the perceived strength of the respective line-ups - Derry fielded 13 of last year's All Ireland semi-final team to Kerry's seven - Mickey Harte knows the benefit of early victories in such a tight division.

"We think over everything we can and we discuss it with them," explained Harte when quizzed on whether he considered leaving his Glen contingent at home, "I'm not inside their heads, I can only talk to them. They know what’s inside their heads and inside their bodies and they know what they are prepared to do. Nobody forced them to do anything, the door was open for them to decline or come in and they decided to come in.

"These first two games are important, especially when you’re a new team in Division One because early points are critical. If you didn't get early points then there is a weeks' break and before you know it you're a month into the National League and still hunting for points. That puts you under pressure right away, before the league has even got to the half-way stage."

And that's the crux of a somewhat strange Glen availability debate, one Harte has been at pains all month to explain wasn't really a debate, it was a personal choice. I doubt Conor Glass or Ethan Doherty even considered skipping Tralee. They didn't skip Limerick last year and one ended up as Young Player of the Year and the other was still surfing the skies above Croke Park as recently as six days ago in a performance for the ages that brought him and his club All Ireland glory.

It's more likely the plan is for a few positive early league results to open the option of rotation in the later rounds which seems sensible. Easier said than done, but still sensible.

And to that end, Saturday in Tralee was step one, not that Harte was about to get carried away by beating a Kerry team missing the likes of David and Paudie Clifford.

"Okay we know that Kerry are missing key figures in their team, real game winners, but that didn't matter. We had to deal with what we had to deal with and there were still very good players to be dealt with,” added the Derry manager,

"It was important that our boys gave an 'A' game performance and I think they did that. With the elements and everything else – how difficult we felt it was to get frees; on many occasion we felt we were maybe worthy of a whistle or two and they didn't come. It's difficult when you have to play through that in a very intense game but look, fair play to the players, they hung in there and never gave up.

"When you put in a huge effort like our players did, to not win would have been so, so disappointing,” added Harte, “Again, it was an understrength Kerry team, we're not taking anything away from that, but any Kerry team is a strong team and to get two points out of that, I'm more than happy."

Derry had bossed the opening half and gone into the break probably a little disappointed to lead only 0-8 to 0-4 with Diarmuid Baker impressing on his first league start for his county.

Indeed for much of the second half, Derry looked in control before the home side’s cause was aided by a black-card for Ciarán McFaul after a high tackle on Gavin as two late Kerry goals changed the complexion, and almost the story. The first goal arrived when Joe O’Connor turned over Brendan Rogers with more than a hint of a push allowing Tom O’Sullivan to pick out Conor Geaney for the finish.

Derry responded with points from Declan Cassidy and Niall Toner and that’s a large part of the reason why Derry won, that ability to respond.

With the scores level – 2-7 to 0-13 – and the breeze behind them, the odds felt in the Kingdom’s favour but Derry dug deep again, going down the other end right away and kicking a lovely score through McFaul.

Yet heading into added time level – thanks to a mark by Graham O’Sullivan – the home side were in the ascendency until Murphy’s gamble paid off.

"Emerging teams measure themselves against the best and invariably it’s been Kerry and Dublin over the last 10 years," added Harte, "You have to measure yourself against the best but the best of what they have on any given day.

"If it’s not their full hand, you understand that. You know that if they took you to the pin of your collar to deal with what we saw out there, well what will we need to be like when their artillery is back. That's something we have to ponder."

Kerry: S Ryan, G O’Sullivan (0-1m), J Foley, D Casey (1-0), B Ó Beaglaoich, T O’Sullivan, G White, J O’Connor, S O’Brien, D Moynihan (0-1), D Geaney (0-1), C Burke, K Spillane, S O’Shea (0-5, 4f), M Burns Subs: B O’Sullivan for S O’Brien, 28, P Murphy for B Ó Beaglaoich, HT, C Geaney (1-0) for M Burns, HT, S O’Brien for C Burke, 43, D O’Connor for K Spillane, 48

Derry: O Lynch, C McCluskey, C McKaigue (0-1), D Baker, P McGrogan, G McKinless, C Doherty (0-1), C Glass (0-1), B Rogers (0-1), E Doherty, D Cassidy (0-1), C McFaul (0-1), N Loughlin, S McGuigan (0-7, 6f), P Cassidy Subs: N Toner (0-1) for P Cassidy, 47, C Murphy for N Loughlin, 60.

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan)