Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC quarter-final: Derry v Cork (today, Portaloise, 6pm, live on SportTG4 YouTube)
IT’S the last chance saloon for Derry minors this evening in Portlaoise in their search for silverware.
It’s almost 12 months since Martin Boyle led the Oak Leafers to their fifth Tom Markham Cup, the rescheduled 2020 competition, but they’ve lived in the shadow of Tyrone this season.
The Red Hands backed up their league final win over Derry with a four-goal haul to add championship silver in last month’s Ulster final.
Derry hit the ground running with convincing wins over Armagh, a Donegal side who had beaten them in the league and Cavan to book their Ulster final spot.
Now it’s Cork who stand in their way of making a step into the last four of the All-Ireland series and the Rebels have also had their own redemption mission.
After a 1-16 to 0-5 hammering by Kerry, without scoring from play, they bounced back to overcome the Kingdom in last Wednesday’s Munster final.
After making five changes to their side, Cork saw off Tipperary in the back door, earning them a second crack at the Kingdom.
A man of the match performance form Alan O’Connell was central overturning Kerry, with wing backs Darragh O’Donovan and Aaron Cullinane getting forward to support their attack.
Brian Hayes bagged two goals and Derry will need to limited the influence of his potent left foot, with Ed Myers playing with poise and vision at centre forward, helping pull all the pieces together.
Colin Molloy, one of three Nemo Rangers players in the side, moved from centre-back to full-back in a switch that has tightened up the Cork defence.
The Rebels were in a match-winning position by half-time and when Kerry had defender Darragh O’Connor sent off five minutes later, it was a case of seeing out the game.
In the Derry camp, it’s a matter of picking through the pieces from their defeat to Tyrone. Scratch the surface on the 4-8 to 0-16 scoreline and there were plenty of positives.
Derry’s problem was that every time they built up a head of steam, Tyrone would carve them open to find the net.
Shea Birt and Conall Higgins were very unlucky not to find the net during Derry’s rampant second half. On another day, the bounce of the ball could’ve paved a way to victory.
Derry have played with plenty of composure and punished the opposition with scoring bursts on their championship journey to date. After hitting three goals in as many minutes to sink Armagh, they blitzed Donegal before going 24 minutes without a score and got themselves into a commanding position against Cavan in the semi-final.
Derry selector Darren McShane was there in the flesh as Cork clocked up their 3-11 to 0-9 Munster final win.
Danny McDermott, James Murray and Fionn McEldowney will have important roles in defence, with Johnny McGuckian possible tasked with making Alan O’Connell defend more than he attacks.
Goalkeeper Ben O’Connor had plenty of joy with his long kick-outs in Clones, but in Derry’s spells of dominance they failed to break down Tyrone’s defence in a first half that saw the game drift away from them.
If Ruairi Forbes, Dara McPeake and Cahir Spiers can get a run at midfield, Derry will pose Cork plenty of questions.
