Johnny McGarvey - 'No messing - we have to go now and get it done'
There was a smile in his face and a mixture of joy and pride in his voice but Derry manager Johnny McGarvey’s message was clear.
After easing past Wicklow to cement their place in a fifth Christy Ring Cup final, the lads would enjoy the feeling but it’s time to up the ante again.
“We are under no illusions whatsoever, if we're going to win the Christy Ring, if we're going to beat London in Croke Park, then we're going to have to play better than we've played today or any other day that we've ever had before,” he said.
While he was “absolutely delighted” and Croke Park was always part of the aim, Derry simply have to zone in.
“We've got to go and get it done,” he said emphatically. “There's going to be no messing. Mentally and physically, we have to be a level above where we're at today.
“We have to go now and perform. There's nothing else for us. It's not about the Christy Ring. It's about going and performing now in a one-off game.”
“As soon as we get up tomorrow (Sunday) morning, our attention will turn to Croke Park,” McGarvey said after Saturday’s 2-30 to 1-13 victory.
After losing to Meath, Derry bounced back to beat Tyrone but they still needed at least a draw on Saturday to get their ticket punched for a return to Croke Park.
It’s Derry’s fourth final in five years, having lost to Meath, Kildare and Offaly. It comes a decade after their 2015 defeat to Kerry.
After word filtered through it would be London standing in their way, McGarvey echoed his message. The opposition isn’t important. Derry’s performance is all that matters.
They gave Meath way much latitude in the 2023 final. A 10-point interval lead that stretched to 12 as the second half pushed on before Derry’s comeback. Cormac O’Doherty hit 1-14 in all as they came up short by two points. The regrets came flooding in.
“We played reasonably well last year (in the final) but we just came up against a team (Kildare) who were better than us,” McGarvey added.
“That’s every day we go out. If we perform, we're a match for any team in the Christy Ring, any team in the division that we play in.”
On Saturday’s performance, McGarvey was full of praise, hailing at their best of the season. He felt they hurled out of their skins.
He was happy his side set the tone early. There were turnovers in defence, in attack and in the middle third.
Derry also dealt with the long ball Meath hurt then with and McGarvey was under no illusions that his defence would still have been stung by not keeping a clean sheet after a close-range Wicklow free was drilled to the net.
“We've seen enough of Wicklow and if we didn't concede goals today, we were going to win the match,” he said.
“We knew they didn't have the scoring power to score 25 or 26 points against us. Look, Mark Craig and Paddy Turner and Sean Cass, they are dogs of war.
“If you don't want to concede goals, they are the boys you take with you. You take them to the trenches. Them three boys will be raging that that goal was conceded at the end. They'll be raging.”
At the other end, the tally of 2-30 was pleasing with skipper Cormac O’Doherty notching 1-13 from 14 shots. Unerring. There were assists thrown in too.
“At half time we were somewhere in the region of 67 per cent on our shooting. It hasn't been that all year,” McGarvey summed up. “Even last week (Against Tyrone) when we pinned 1-30, we still hit 25 wides.”