Nicky English's Tipperary proved much too strong for Derry at Slaughtneil yesterday, their 15point victory deserved against a home side which struggled to put points on the board. And that was a fact acknowledged afterwards by Derry boss Kevin McNaughton.
"We had enough possession to make a match of it, but against top-quality sides we will continue to struggle and that showed today as we failed to take many chances.
"Indeed, when one considers that our forwards scored only one point between them, they will see where I am coming from. We need more experience up front and until we get several of our more established players back we will continue to find it difficult.
"However, I cannot fault the players who togged out, they gave their all and, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't have asked for much more from them," he said.
His opposite number, Nicky English, was happy with the victory. "We achieved the victory we came here to get and the points will help us later in the campaign.
"No disrespect to them, but Derry will find it difficult against the top sides, but they battled throughout and deserved credit for that. If they continue to show the same spirit they will pose problems for some of the better teams."
Derry opened the game better and points from Padraig Kelly and Ollie Collins had them two ahead after five minutes, but the visitors dominated the remainder of the opening period. The lead didn't last long as the visitors added score after score to build up a comfortable advantage which they never looked like relinquishing.
The game's opening goal arrived in the 21st minute when fullforward John Carroll held off several challenges before thumping the sliothar past a stranded Kieran Stevenson.
Brian O'Meara and Liam Cahill added further points before Tipperary found the net for a second time, Lar Corbett scoring at the second attempt after Stevenson made a marvellous save to stop his initial effort. Derry went in trailing 2-9 to 0-3 at the interval.
Again the home side opened the second period brightly, but Tipperary soon regained their momentum and points from Cahill, Mark O'Leary, Corbett, Cahill again and O'Meara put the issue beyond doubt.
TIPPERARY: D Young; D Fahey, P Maher, P Ormonde; E Corcoran, D Kennedy, P Kelly; T Dunne, M Ryan (0-1); M O'Leary (0-2), E Enright, B O'Meara (0-3); L Cahill (0-7), J Carroll (1-0), L Corbett (1-1). Subs: J O'Brien for Enright (halftime); E Kelly (0-1) for O'Meara (63 mins).
DERRY: K Stevenson; C McGurk, C Murray, SM Lockhart; R Lynch, C McEldowney, P Kelly (0-1); O Collins (0-4), M Conway; D McGrellis, K McKeever, F McEldowney; Gary Biggs, R Kennedy, J O'Dwyer (0-1). Subs: P McEldowney for Biggs (27 mins); D Doherty for Kennedy (half-time), Gregory Biggs for McKeever (70).
Referee: B Kelly (Westmeath).
