Magical Logue inspires crucial City of Derry victory over Sunday's Well

City of Derry 23, Sunday's Well 19

Big matches require big performances and even bigger personalities. And against Sunday's Well on Saturday, City of Derry proved they have both.

On a weekend that saw the bottom four teams of All Ireland League Division 2C square off against each other, there was no margin for error. A defeat would almost certainly condemn Derry to the relegation play-off but victory offered hope. Real hope.

On that back of that pressure, just like they had against Bruff, Richard McCarter's team dug deep to grind out a victory that could go a long way to securing the club's senior status.

The four way battle for survival will roll to the season's final day and Derry must travel to runaway leaders Enniscorthy next weekend before a final day home match against Tullamore, but there's real reason for optimism after a display full of guts and determination in a game with little between the teams.

When the stakes are so high, a sprinkling a star quality can often be the defining factor and on Saturday's Derry had theirs in the form of the returning Simon Logue. The mercurial back has missed much of Derry's campaign and showed exactly what a loss he's been by scoring one brilliant, individual first half try before setting up Ross McLaughlin for Derry's crucial score half try.

Yet, if anything typified Derry's display, it was Logue's persistence to chase his own 75th minute box kick, hunt down Sunday's Well full-back Gary Downey and force him to concede the penalty from which Alex McDonnell slotted over a penalty to take Derry four points clear of the visitors.

But this was no one-man performance, far from it. Against a team who included former Munster and Ireland star, Denis Hurley, each and every Derry player played their part. McDonnell set aside two first half misses with the boot to produce an impeccable second period while young full-back Ross McLaughlin continues to enhance his growing reputation with another superb showing.

Captain Cathal Cregan was excellent in a pack that refused to take a backward step even if they were harshly penalised at times in the set piece. Defensively Derry made a huge improvement. They were caught out slightly by Conor O'Brien's 29th minute dummy that allowed the Sunday's Well flanker to run in his side's only try but otherwise, Derry were water tight with the likes of Davy Graham and Davy Lapsley, who normally hog the attacking headlines, more prominent defensively.

The tension was obvious before a match that remained scoreless for 30 minutes as Derry missed two penalties and Sunday's Well one. The longer any game goes without a score, the more critical it becomes and when one finally did arrive, it was one Derry will want to forget, as the visitors' big flanker stepped inside the Derry defence to run in under the posts for a seven point lead.

The try was converted by scrum-half Fabien Loughrey and his penalty two minutes after the try had Sunday's Well 10-0 up without Derry having done much wrong.The home side needed inspiration: cue Mr Logue.

With play bogged down in midfield and not much looking on, Logue picked up the ball following a Derry ruck on half-way. In an instant he had danced his way through a crowded Well defence and was clear, showing great pace run in under the posts. With McDonnell converting Derry were back in it at 7-10.

That should have been that for the half but when Callum O'Hagan was caught offside in first half injury time, it gave Sunday's Well the chance to extend their lead and Loughrey did just that with his 43rd minute penalty.

Six points down at the break, the second half was just as tight, turning into a shoot-out between McDonnell and Loughrey with Derry's out-half refusing to let those first half kicks play on his mind as he hit three penalties and one conversion to take his personal tally to 13 for the day.

Loughrey managed two in reply but that was the sum total of Sunday's Well's second half scoring, a fact dictated by Derry's superb defensive effort.

Still, for long periods it looked like Derry would be unable to peg the visitors back. Six points was as close as McCarter's men could get until Logue once again opened up the visitors in the 63rd minute. The winger had help this time in the form of O'Hagan who, after Logue had engineered the space, accelerated away from the Cork men down the right before drawing the cover and feeding Ross McLaughlin's excellent supporting run.

The conversion wasn't easy but McDonnell nailed it and Derry led for the first time with 15 minutes remaining.

Now it was about composure and defiance and every Derry man played their part. At 20-19 the game was on a knife edge with only one moment of indiscipline required to swing the pendulum back toward the visitors. But Derry didn't buckle and when Logue forced the late penalty, McDonnell obliged.

There was still time - curiously six minutes of injury time to be exact - for Sunday's Well to save themselves and they threw everything at Derry but found a home defence not willing to budge.

Nothing's won Derry have given themselves every chance. Now they must finish the job.

City of Derry: Adam Marley, Catha Cregan, Sam Duffy, Gerard Doherty, Cain McColgan, Craig Huey, David Brown, Tiernan Thornton, Jamie Millar, Alex McDonnell, Calum O'Hagan, David Lapsley, David Graham, SImon Logue, Ross McLaughlin. (Replacements) Jack Beattie, Jack Sayers, Dara Gill, Aaron Deery, Paddy Blenerhassett.

Sunday's Well: Michael Moynihan, Adam Browne, Neville O'Donoghue, Evan O'Connell, James Mulcahy, Cormac Kelliher, Sean Glynn, Conor O'Brien, Fabien Loughrey, Sean McCarthy, Ryan Kelliher, Denis Hurley, Maurice Daly, William Trevor, Gary Downey. (Replacements) Declan Murray, Gary O'Sullivan, Alex Lane, Josh Featherstone, Mark Kelly.

Referee: Robbie Jenkinson