Derry manager Ciarán Meenagh reflects on his side’s victory over Donegal in the second round of the All-Ireland SFC group stages.
Derry manager Ciarán Meenagh believes that his side are among the most-scrutinised teams in the country.
The Oak Leaf County followed up their All-Ireland group stage draw against Monaghan in the opening round with a 3-14 to 1-15 win against Donegal at MacCumhaill Park on Sunday.
Conor Doherty, Lachlan Murray and Pádraig McGrogan hit the goals for the back-to-back Ulster champions as they found an extra gear late on.
There was huge commentary around the set-up when Rory Gallagher hit the headlines and decided to step down around the provincial final win over Armagh, and their team has been under the microscope on the field also.
“I think if you sit still and you don’t evolve and you don’t try to be slightly ahead of the curve, you’re in big trouble,” says Meenagh, in charge for a third game in a row.
“We’re one of the most-documented teams in the country in terms of how we’re scrutinised and analysed, particularly in the last year to 18 months.
“There’s many different ways you can skin the cat. All those things are part of our conversations.
“On any given day, you have to attack as the opposition defend.
“It’s really important that the players have the ability to sense that on the field.
“It’s well-documented that our players are very bright players, able to coach each other and manage each other on the field.
“When you go out, you’ve an idea of what the opposition are going to do but you’re not fully aware.
“Getting messages on from the sideline without a maor foirne is nigh-on impossible, so the players would have a number of aspects of a playbook that they look at, when the opposition are doing certain things, we’ll manoeuvre and look at that slightly different.
“Those are aspects we look at, anybody worth their salt would do that.”
