NFL Division One: Dublin 3-20 Derry 2-12
Derry’s league campaign gets worse with every game. They had no answer here for Dublin’s rat-a-tat attack on a night when Seán Bugler and Brian Howard were exceptional for the home side. Paddy Tally’s side had nothing of that calibre to offer in response and will spend the rest of the spring fighting relegation now.
Not for the first time in this league, the wind had its say. Dublin were smooth, willing and precise when they had it in the first half, Derry were mostly toothless after the break. The half-time gap was seven points in favour of the Dubs and Derry never looked like making a significant dent in it.
This after-the-deluge Dublin side is beginning to take shape. Luke Breathnach played at corner forward and took his scores with impressive ease off both feet, looking like a next-gen Paddy Andrews. Conor Tyrrell has the urgency and zip of a Jack McCaffrey, albeit still a little off in terms of his handling skills. Eoghan O’Donnell might be a touch lumbering with his shooting but he takes minding at full forward.
Head and shoulders above them all, as he has been in most games so far in the league, was Seán Bugler. The wing forward has barely put a toenail wrong this campaign and he bolted from the traps here again, stitching the first two points of the night inside the opening two minutes, one off either foot. He went on to fill his boots pretty much any time he came on to the ball, ending the night with six points from play.
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After a decent opening, Derry faded from view entirely as the first half wore on. They were unlucky to see a Shane McGuigan punched effort come back off the inside of the post on 16 minutes – it trickled along the line and was cleared by Evan Comerford. Had it gone in, Derry would have gone 1-5 to 0-3 clear. As it was, a McGuigan free soon after was their last score of the half.
In fact, Dublin outscored them by 1-7 to 0-0 from there to the break. Bugler and Breathnach swung over classy scores from all angles, Howard drilled a very Brian Howard point with the outside of his boot, Comerford even got forward for a handy one himself. The key score came from Scully, who picked his spot just under the black spot in the 22nd minute after Trojan work from O’Donnell.
It all added up to a 1-10 to 0-6 lead for the home side. In the new world, we know by now not to take any lead for granted. Even so, Derry were going to need more than a bit of wind assistance and the occasional two-pointer to be jolted from their torpor.
For starters, they were going to need to make some sort of impression on their own kick-out. Brian Howard had lorded midfield throughout the opening half and he started the second period intent on repeating the dose.
Bugler and Breathnach did likewise, putting up the first two scores of the half on the back of Howard’s labour. When Cian Murphy slotted one of his own soon after – again with Howard supplying the ammunition, the Dubs were 10 points up and cruising.
Derry did come with a quick flurry 10 minutes after the break, with Brendan Rodgers pinging a goal after a sharp pass from Ethan Doherty. And when Cahir McMonagle followed that up with a towering score in the next breath, the gap was down to six. Six points under the new rules isn’t nothing but it is at least still an open question.
Not this time, it wasn’t. Con O’Callaghan came off the bench and swished a point, Bugler put up his sixth of the night. Any sniff Derry had of getting back into things disappeared almost immediately as first Tyrrell and then O’Dell plundered goals.
Tyrrell’s was a fluke – he was going for a point and it dropped softly in under the bar. O’Dell’s was anything but, his raper of a shot finding the roof of the net. But even so, Derry’s experiment of playing an outfielder in goals in the shape of Neil McNicholl surely isn’t long for this world – all three Dublin goals went in directly under the black spot. Full-time goalkeepers don’t tend to allow that kind of thing.
So that was that, really. Derry managed to pad out their total with a couple of two-pointers and a Conor Glass goal but the main item of note for the rest of the game was Bugler limping off looking in real pain 10 minute from the end. He cut a disconsolate figure sitting in front of the Dublin bench for the rest of the game. After his flawless start to the season, it would be cruel if he misses significant time now.
As for the Dubs, they did this without Ciarán Kilkenny, Lee Gannon, either of the Small brothers, Eoin Murchan and Cormac Costello. Not a bad night’s work at all.
Dublin: Evan Comerford (0-0-1); Alex Gavin, Theo Clancy, David Byrne; Conor Tyrrell (1-0-0), Seán MacMahon, Cian Murphy (0-0-2); Brian Howard (0-0-1), Tom Lahiff; Seán Bugler (0-0-6), Niall O’Callaghan, Kevin Lahiff; Luke Breathnach (0-0-4), Eoghan O’Donnell, Niall Scully (1-0-2). Subs: Con O’Callaghan (0-1-2) for N O’Callaghan, 46 mins; Lorcan O’Dell (1-0-0) for O’Donnell, 46 mins; Seán Lowry for K Lahiff, 52 mins; Davy Keogh for Bugler, 56 mins; Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne for Breathnach, 56 mins
Derry: Neil McNicholl; Diarmuid Baker, Eoin McEvoy, Martin Bradley; Conor Doherty, Brendan Rogers (1-0-0), Declan Cassidy (0-0-1); Conor Glass (1-0-0), Anton Tohill; Cahir McMonagle (0-0-1), Paul Cassidy (0-1-1), Ethan Doherty; Ben McCarron, Shane McGuigan (0-2-3, 2tpf, 3f), Niall Toner. Subs: Callum McGrogan for Toner, 21 mins; Lachlan Murray for McGrogan, 41 mins; Pádraig McGrogan for D Cassidy, 45 mins; Niall Loughlin for McCarron, 53 mins; Mark Doherty for McMonagle, 60 mins
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan)
