AFTER JUST eight minutes at Celtic Park yesterday Derry were leading by three points to one and Johnny McBride was rolling around on the turf holding his face.

For Monaghan, who enjoyed a seven-point first-half lead over Derry last Sunday, a week suddenly began to seem like a very long time in football. Referee Martin McBrien sent Stephen McGinnity to the line after brief consultation with the linesman. Johnny McBride lived to tell the tale. McGinnity and Monaghan didn't.

This was a Derry performance which will be looked upon as a benchmark of progress more than anything else. With so many Ulster sides going backwards at the minute, any sign of progress will be welcome for the time being.

Derry have 11 Under-21 players in the panel at the minute. Getting the right balance is a delicate business.

Last week in Clones, one or two of the younger players new to the mean streets of senior championship football came off the pitch expressing their horror at the sheer hard chaos of it all. They had been hustled by a hungry Monaghan outfit.

Yesterday amends were made and Monaghan were made to look ordinary. Not so many youngsters were started. There won't be total immersion again for a while. With some experience in their ranks, Derry displayed a spikyness which doesn't yet approach the admirable meanness of the 1993 side but was adequate to see off Monaghan. Gary McGill came into the half forward line, and even if his shooting was woeful his aggression was felt ail across the middle third of the field.

At midfield, the dark arts of Brian McGilligan are still missed when it comes to shutting down the shop, but yesterday Derry moved the well-travelled Dermot Heaney to partner Anthony To hill, and Heaney revelled in the position which, it seems, he was made for.

Not only did Heaney perform well at midfield, but the return of Seamus Downey to full forward supplemented the bonus. There is no full-forward quite like Downey playing at present. He wins his own ball and can shoot well from distance; but most importantly he involves the players around him constantly. With players of the class of Brolly and Cassidy outside, he looked better than ever yesterday.

As for the defence? Derry spent a couple of nights during the last week studying videos of the drawn game in Clones. Wisely, they decided not to join the posse looking for David O'Neill's scalp on the pretext that some sketchy evidence (Laois and Monaghan) suggested that O'Neill doesn't thrive under high balls.

Derry tightened the full-back line with Gary Coleman and figured that if high balls were to rain in it would be a sign of desperation on Monaghan's behalf. So it was. Yesterday O'Neill (in common with the rest of the full hack line) played a fine game, looking like the composed and skilful footballer whom Bellaghy have been quietly boasting about for a couple of years.

Add that to Henry Downey's customary excellence and you have an idea of Derry's impregnability. Damian McCusker in the Derry goal had to make a few saves early on. but once the going got earnest Derry were on top in defence.

Derry have developed a nice sense of timing. They scored a goal within two minutes of McGinnity's sending off and added another on the edge of half-time. There came the sound of screeching tyres and handbrake turns as Monaghan's morale made a quick exit in a getaway vehicle.

Derry's goals were the most luminous hints that this team might have something special to offer. Joe Brolly, in sublime form yet again, finished off a cutting Derry move with a point attempt which rebounded off the post and back into the arms of Dermot Dougan, who finished it to the net with some dash.

Derry cruised for a while after that, and Monaghan even managed to put together the odd promising move. Then, in the two minutes before half-time, Derry backed Monaghan up against the ropes and beat them about the place for a while. Seamus Downey and Brolly hit points by way of aperitif.

Then came a wonderful goal. Henry Downey won possession in his half and took his time about selecting a destination for his 50-yard pass. Dougan took receipt and flicked an extraordinarily perceptive handpass over the heads of three Monaghan defenders to Joe Brolly. For a moment it looked as though Brolly was about to be devoured by Monaghan men. Then, with a stab of his foot, the ball was in the net and Monaghan were trailing by nine points going in for the team talk. Given the size of Derry's lead, the second half could hold no surprises. Heaney had a goal disallowed and Derry hit the post twice as their dominance at midfield became more pronounced, and Monaghan looked increasingly limp as they had to cover for their missing player.

Drained of drama and cursed by bad weather, the game petered out in the last 20 minutes or so. We studied the cuds of smoke coming from the Bogside chimneys, and only the passion of the crowd reminded us that this was summer and championship. Derry introduced a couple of their fine young players, minds already on their engagement three weeks hence. And beyond perhaps.

Cavan's minor team had an easy win in the end in the Ulster minor championship replay at Clones yesterday. Goals in the 23rd and 24th minutes of the second half completely killed off Fermanagh.

Cavan led by 1-6 to 1-3 at half-time and while Fermanagh took over for a period in the third quarter Cavan hit back effectively and coasted home after those two goals.