Derry senior hurling manager Johnny McGarvey gives his verdict on his team's opening National League victory over Tyrone in Celtic Park.
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00:00 Johnny, you laid down the marker, the leg tile you were after. A wee bit of a sweat there in the second half, but you got there.
00:06 Aye, look, delighted with the win, you know, really am. Just really disappointed with the way we played the first probably 15 minutes of the second half.
00:14 You know, we just, everything we talked about at half time, we didn't do. You know, we didn't really control the ball. We lost the breaks.
00:20 And to be fair to them, if we fully expected them to pull it back, you know, it was probably 10 points to breeze.
00:25 And when they got 7 in a row, I think they got it to start a second half, maybe 6 in a row, we were under pressure.
00:30 Corey stepped up, massive goal for us, you know, made a wild difference. Just sort of turned the game, I suppose.
00:35 I felt at that stage then we controlled it until the red card, then the second red card. I mean, the game was over with the second red card.
00:41 But, look, over the moon to get a 1, like some difference between this time last year when we were beat out the gate here by Kerry.
00:48 So, happy to get off with a 1.
00:50 I mean, you can talk about the win, but sometimes when you're as far ahead as you were in the first half, it's a different game second half.
00:57 Aye, you know, we talked about it plenty at half time, but I mean, I don't think we underestimated it.
01:02 I mean, it's just the type of game that it was. I mean, when you had it, you had to make it.
01:07 And when you didn't, you know, you had to dig deep. And to be fair, we dug deep.
01:11 You know, that probably the first 15 minutes of the matches where we won it, you know, I think it went 12-1, maybe 13-1, something like that.
01:18 You know, and I felt at that stage we'd have to do something really, really stupid to mess it up.
01:23 You know, I thought 12-13 points was going to be what it had to be at half time.
01:28 And I think it was 12, you know, but no question about it, when it went to 7, 6, I think it maybe got to, maybe even 5, I'm not even sure.
01:36 But definitely the sweat was coming on then.
01:38 And as much as the first half, you put a big tally, but there was a couple of huge saves from Union as well.
01:43 Aye, aye, made two good saves, you know.
01:46 The penalty was a big one.
01:48 I think that would have brought it back to, I think it would have brought it back to 7 for 10 or something of that nature.
01:54 You know, all of a sudden it's a different game, but you need that, you know.
01:57 That's why he's in there, he's in there to keep the ball out of the net, clean sheet today, over the moon with that.
02:01 And a huge goal from Corey, but just when he's needed it, that really sort of turned the tide.
02:05 Aye, I mean, he's just a machine, you know. He's just up and down that pitch all day, worked really, really hard.
02:10 I thought he was brilliant.
02:12 Paddy Kelly, I thought what a game he had, especially in the first half.
02:16 We were getting caught a lot in one-on-ones and we really shouldn't have been, but Paddy, even the second half, we were under a wee bit of pressure.
02:21 He was brilliant. Jim Rury on his debut as well, first class.
02:24 You got the win, you were saying how crucial it was to make a good start. You got it and now you're building on it.
02:29 Aye, I mean, look, performances do matter.
02:31 You know, if you want to improve, the performances do matter.
02:35 We'll work on what we've done wrong, we'll continue to try and do what we've done right.
02:39 and roll out the letter of the day.
02:40 I think it is next Saturday.