Damian Barton’s men will rue their missed chances in the second half
DERRY will wondering about all those missed opportunities in the second half to secure an away win against Down in Newry this afternoon (throw in 2pm).
In the final minutes The Oak Leafers kicked three wides in succession, allowing Down to scrape home with a one point win.
Damian Barton made two changes right at the start of the second half at Parc Esler with James Keilt and Enda Lynn replace Patrick Kearney and Gavin O’Neill.
And in the first attack of the game Enda Lynn pointed for Derry and it’s 0-09 each.
On 40 minutes, Derry took the lead for the first time in the game Carlus McWilliams with his first score.
But the lead was short lived as Pat Haven quickly leveled again. 0-10 each.
With 50 minutes on the clock, Alan Davidson pointed a free and Down went back into the lead again.
As Derry introduced Mark Lynch into the fray on 52 minutes, Jonathan Flynn scored a point and Down stretched their lead to two points.
And Mark Lynch made an immediate impression with a great point – even though there was some debate among the officials who eventually decided his kick did go between the posts. Back to a one point game.
Lynch proved a great a substitution by Barton and scored his second point in the space a few minutes and levelled the game at 12 points each.
But on 56 minutes, Alan Davidson pointed from play to give Down the lead again.
Conor McAtamney came on for Swatragh man Emmet McGuckian but Coalan Mooney pointed for Down only for Ryan Bell kicked a wide for Derry. Down lead by 0-14 to Derry’s 0-12.
And with five minutes left of play, Ryan Bell had the chance to close the gap but kicked a free wide of the posts.
But with two minutes left James Kielt scored a point and the gap was down to one point.
And Enda Lynn had a glorious chance to level the match but skews his shot wide of the posts.
Will Derry rue those chances with four minutes of added time?
Alan Davidson made sure Derry did rue their chances with a point as the clock ticked down to full time stretching Down’s lead in Newry to two points.
But with a minute to go, Ryan Bell kicked a point to reduce the gap to one point – 0-15 to 0-14.
And that was how it ended at the final whistle.
Next up for Derry is a home tie this Wednesday against Queen’s at Owenbeg (throw in 8 pm).
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