THEY got away with it last week, but Derrylaughan can’t afford to hand All Saints, Ballymena a head-start in tomorrow’s Ulster intermediate quarter-final, according to attacker Tomas Carney.
Termon raced into a seven-point lead inside the opening 10 minutes before the Tyrone champions found their feet and halted the slide, eventually running out preliminary-round winners with three points to spare.
“It’s something we need to work on, we’ll get back at it and try and rectify that for next week,” said Carney.
“They (All Saints) will have been watching that, and they’ll probably pinpoint that.”
The Barrys performed with purpose and power once they got over that early rocky patch, with Carney’s 1-6 haul steering them to a 1-11 to 1-8 victory over the Donegal title-holders, but they need to identify the reasons behind heir sluggish start.
“It’s hard to pinpoint one thing, maybe a bit of nerves from our first time being here.
“Termon knew that if they started well, they could catch us a wee bit cold, but hopefully we can go out and rectify that next week.”
Skipper Brian Kennedy was central to the recovery, as Derrylaughan imposed themselves on the middle third and pushed on with conviction.
“Brian is one of the best midfielders in Ulster and Ireland, and he shows that every week he goes out for us, and we’re very happy to have him.
“We never panicked, and once we got our hand on the ball, we started to work the ball, keep the ball, work it to the wings and play inside as best we can, try and keep possession a wee bit better than we were in the first 10 or 15 minutes, when we weren’t doing that.
“We were a wee bit nervous, we were giving away balls that we usually would never give away, and it’s something that we’ll work on ahead of Ballymena, because they’ll not be easy beat, they’ll be a good side.”
The club is blessed with quality in depth, with a raft of substitutes coming in to reinforce the push for home in the latter stages.
“We need that impact off the bench. We have been using 20, 25 to 30 players all year,” said Carney.
“Every game different boys are being used, and that’s just the way it has been all year.
“Everybody is fighting for their position, and that’s one of the things that has been going for us this year, everybody is pushing each other on.”
The Tyrone men travel along the loughshore to Cargin for a tie which they hope will build towards provincial success, but Carney is making no predictions.
“We’ll just worry about one game at a time, we can’t get too ahead of ourselves.
“Anything can happen in an Ulster competition. Every team is in this position, they’re good side and that’s why they’re there.”
