NFL Division One B/Down 0-11 Derry 0-10: Liam Doyle's 66th-minute free kept alive Down's play-off hopes as the Mourne men edged Derry out in a mud-splattered game at Ballinascreen, where both sides spent as much effort battling the underfoot conditions as the opposition.

Derry will undoubtedly feel they let this game slip away as they kicked a string of poor wides with the wind at their backs in the closing quarter, but the truth is that Down played the cuter, more patient football that the conditions required.

Whereas the home team snatched at half-chances, Down maintained possession and engineered chances closer to goal and their greater composure saw them home in the end.

Playing with the wind in the first half, Down took only 21 seconds to get off the mark, Mickey Walsh kicking a lovely score from the game's opening attack.

However, Derry soon settled and it took a good save by Benny McVeigh to deny Oak Leaf wing forward Joe O'Kane in the fifth minute. The home team continued to press and points from Mark Lynch, O'Kane and Enda Muldoon saw Derry surge into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after nine minutes.

But with the breeze behind them, Down played the better football for the remainder of the half. A point from Daniel Hughes and a fisted effort from Ronan Murtagh saw them level matters and frees from Hughes and Walsh eased Down into a 0-5 to 0-4 lead after 25 minutes.

Derry then levelled when Paddy Bradley pointed a free, but the momentum was still with the visitors who surged ahead, with midfielders Ambrose Rodgers and Dan Gordon pointing from distance.

A 35th-minute effort from Eoin McCartan stretched Down's advantage to 0-8 to 0-5, although Paddy Bradley's free in injury-time cut the deficit.

With the breeze in their favour on the resumption Derry set about reeling Down in, but after two poor misses from O'Kane and Muldoon it was Down who struck first, Doyle pointing 42nd minute free.

However, as the half progressed the Bradley brothers dragged Derry back into the game, Eoin scoring twice from play and Paddy from a free and then from play to see Derry lead 0-10 to 0-9. But Down dug in and Mickey Walsh levelled proceedings at 10 points apiece in the 56th minute. Derry battled frantically to regain the lead, but three successive wides proved very costly.

Down engineered a free for Doyle and when the referee responded to some backchat from Derry by moving the ball forward, the Liatroim clubman coolly stroked the ball over.

In a frantic finale, Derry's Enda Muldoon had a penalty shout turned down before Francie McEldowney kicked a late wide.

DERRY: B Gillis; F McEldowney, SM Lockhart, K McGuckin; P Cartin, J McBride, G O'Kane; F Doherty, J Diver; J O'Kane (0-1), E Muldoon (0-1), B McGoldrick; M Lynch (0-2), P Bradley (0-4, three frees), E Bradley (0-2). Subs: P McFlynn for Doherty (46), P Diamond for McGoldrick (47), M Donaghy for J O'Kane (61) C Mullan for Lynch (64).

DOWN: B McVeigh; M Cole, P Murphy, D Rafferty; A Scullion, J Clarke, D McCartan; A Rodgers (0-1), D Gordon (0-1); R Sexton, M Walsh (0-3, 1 free), D Hughes (0-2, 1 free); L Doyle (0-2, frees), R. Murtagh (0-1), E McCartan (0-1). Subs: M Doran for Hughes (31), A Molloy for Murtagh (32), M Poland for Murphy (55), J Brown for McCarran (62), A O'Prey for Sexton (67).

Referee: P McEneaney (Monaghan).