The unravelling of Derry, it has taken just nine weeks and nine goals.
Of all the improbable storylines to emerge from this lukewarm football championship, the heat coming on Mickey Harte and Derry just over two months after capturing the league title was one Keith Barry might even have been reluctant to concoct.
The slow-burning nature of the championship structure, which allows a team to lose three matches and still be alive in the competition, insulates Derry’s season from irreparable collapse for now, but their year survives only on cinder smoke.
Derry fans were shuffling forlornly out of Celtic Park on Sunday long before the final whistle confirmed their team’s third successive loss since beating Dublin in the league decider at Croke Park on March 31st.
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They have shipped nine goals in their three championship games – four v Donegal, two v Galway, three v Armagh. Derry have yet to raise a green flag. They are floundering.
Mickey Harte stood solemnly outside the Derry dressingroom afterwards and was at a loss to make sense of it all, so what hope for the rest of us.
“I find it hard to explain,” he sighed. “I can’t explain the difference in the performance of our team. The players are still very good players, and they couldn’t have won Division One without being very good players.
“And suddenly within a couple of months they’re not playing like the quality we saw from them. So, look, we’ll have to just do our best to dig through the debris and try and come out with something better for the next game. We’re not in a good place, and there’s no way of sugar-coating it. We’re in a very bad place at the minute, and you have to hold your hands up and accept that, and collectively, we have to try and see what we can do about it.”
In the days after they won the league title Derry shared top billing for the Sam Maguire in an exclusive group alongside Dublin and Kerry. From that trio, it was widely argued, the All-Ireland winner would emerge.
But while Dublin and Kerry are well on their way to securing an All-Ireland quarter-final spot, Derry must beat Westmeath in two weeks to remain in the conversation.
“I suppose confidence can be knocked out of people, I suppose back to the Donegal game, conceding so many goals in the way we did, knocked the confidence out of them,” said Harte. “It’s very difficult to put your finger on it. I’m not a psychologist, but obviously you can’t play the level of football that our boys played on March 31st and then have your next three performances the way they were.
“It doesn’t make sense unless there’s a mental problem there, maybe it’s fatigue, maybe it’s coming off the high of winning the league, it could be loads of things. Injuries play a part in it as well. So there’s a whole lot of stuff going on there, but the end result is that it’s not good for us at the minute.”
Derry’s (0 points) season now comes down to Westmeath (0 points) in a fortnight. It’s win or bust.
On the other hand the season has opened up for Armagh (4 points) after successive wins since their Ulster final loss and sees them face Galway (4 points) in the last round-robin game in a straight battle for top spot in Group One.
Dublin (4 points) and Mayo (4 points) will meet in a winner-takes-all Group Two clash in a fortnight as well after their victories on Saturday over Cavan (0 points) and Roscommon (0 points) respectively. Roscommon and Cavan will face off for third place.
Group Three has several permutations hanging over it after Cork brought an end to the last unbeaten record of the season, the Rebels chalking up 3-9 to 0-16 to beat Donegal at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday.
It’s a result – coupled with Tyrone’s win over Clare – that ensures all the jostling for positions will go down to the last round of games. Donegal (2 points) will face Clare (0 points) while Tyrone (2 points) will play Cork (4 points).
“It’s the first setback for us really,” said Jim McGuinness afterwards. “We have to go away now and have a good look at it and try. and understand where we were positive and look at areas we need to work on.”
Kerry (4 points) top Group Four after their win over Meath (0 points) on Sunday, while Louth (3 points) are in second place after playing out a draw with Monaghan (1 point). Kerry face Louth in the last round of games, while Meath will meet Monaghan.
The draw for the preliminary quarter-finals of the Tailteann Cup took place on Sunday evening: Leitrim v Wicklow; Laois v New York; Limerick v Tipperary; Antrim v London.
Kildare, Sligo, Fermanagh and Down have all advanced to the Tailteann Cup quarter-finals proper having topped their groups.
And the weekend produced the first managerial departure of the summer with Niall Carew stepping down as Carlow manager after five years.
Harte’s future as Derry manager is now under a glaring spotlight. When asked if the current system which permits a team to lose three games and remain in the championship is an indictment of the championship, Harte admitted it could be something the GAA might look to change in the future.
“If I wasn’t in this position, I might agree with it too,” he said of possible changes to the format, before adding: “I’d like to be part of that indictment.”
But where the 2024 championship is concerned, Derry are rapidly running out of chances to be part of the story.
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