Derry 2-13 Mayo 1-6:John O'Mahony might have suspected he was going to have to overhaul his Mayo side if they are to ever set foot in the promised land and on Saturday night at Celtic Park he had those suspicions confirmed.
For 55 minutes the Connacht side were at first frustrated by a waspish yet disciplined Derry defence before the Enda Muldoon-inspired side closed the game out with an unanswered 1-5.
While O'Mahony insisted his veterans still had much to offer he hinted the time might now be right for new blood to revitalise a side that bears so many psychological scars.
"It was obvious when I came in that Mayo was due a period of transition but it would be wrong of people to make an assessment off what happened in the final 10 minutes of this game. I asked every player in there not to make any hasty decisions.
"The structures in Mayo are still sound. We have players on development panels who aren't in the squad today and lads on weights programmes. Now is a great time of opportunity for players in Mayo football," said the former Galway boss.
O'Mahony felt the final 10-point losing margin was tough on his side.
"I'm very disappointed but that final score didn't reflect the effort we put in. It went away from us in the final 10 minutes but that's sport, it can be very cruel. I have no complaints with the result. Derry played very well, we had a couple of decent spells but they weren't long enough. But this is a learning curve for a lot of our players."
Though Mayo enjoyed some spells of dominance, the diligence of Seán Martin Lockhart, Kevin McCloy and Michael McGoldrick meant they were rarely able to translate it into scores.
Derry started brightly with points from Conleith Gilligan, Barry McGoldrick, James Conway and a Paddy Bradley free giving them a 0-4 to 0-0 lead after 15 minutes. Indeed, it took a gift-wrapped goal courtesy of Derry goalkeeper Barry Gillis who spilled a high ball at the grateful feet of Barry Moran to give the visitors a foothold in the game.
That was quickly followed by an equalising free from Conor Mortimer, but Mark Lynch's introduction from the bench curbed the influence of Trevor Mortimer and reinvigorated Derry. By half-time points from Gilligan (two frees), Devlin and Muldoon in response to two Barry Moran points saw Derry lead 0-8 to 1-3 at the break.
The first 10 minutes of the second half were Mayo's best spell of the game but with the Derry backline resolute it yielded only two points. Muldoon returned to midfield in the 48th minute after a spell in the full-forward line and won a free with a mighty high fetch. He quickly delivered a long ball in to Paddy Bradley and with James Conway shipping it on, Colin Devlin was able to nip in and flick the ball into over the advancing David Clarke for a goal that turned the game.
Mayo's Andy Moran hit a point in reply but with Gerard O'Kane and Gilligan starting to mop up the breaking ball Derry took control as Paddy Bradley cut loose with four points quick points and Raymond Wilkinson adding another. Muldoon hammered the final nail in by lobbing the coolest of goals in the 68th minute.
Derry boss Paddy Crozier was pleased with another good display after last week's impressive win over Armagh. "People had said we couldn't do it two games on the trot and we talked about that during the week. We were able to carry through the momentum from last Sunday and produce another performance today," he said. "We got a terrible slating after the Monaghan game, both inside and outside the county, but the boys have shown great determination and are answering the critics in the best way possible."
DERRY: B Gillis; M McGoldrick, K McCloy, G O'Kane; L Hinphey, S M Lockhart, F McEldowney; F Doherty, J Conway (0-1); B McGoldrick (0-1), P Murphy, E Muldoon (1-1); C Devlin (1-1), P Bradley (0-5, two frees), C Gilligan (0-3, two frees). Subs: M Lynch for B McGoldrick (28 mins), R Wilkinson (0-1) for Murphy (57 mins), Patsy Bradley for Conway (65 mins), P O'Hea for Hinphey (69 mins), G Donaghy for Gilligan (70 mins).
MAYO: D Clarke; T Cunniffe, L O'Malley, T Howley; D Heaney, D Killcullen, T Mortimer; P Harte, D Brady; BJ Padden, P Hanley (0-1), A Dillon; C Mortimer (0-1, free), B Moran (1-2), A Moran (0-1). Subs: A Kilcoyne (0-1) for Dillon (half-time), A Campbell for Kilcoyne (43 mins), K O'Neill for Padden (51 mins), P Gardiner for T Cunniffe (55mins) C McDonald for Kilcoyne (58 mins). Blood sub: R McGarrity for D Brady (69 mins).
Referee: David Coldrick (Meath).
