- Written by Ora Bannon
- BBC Sport at Celtic Park
image source, Getty Images
Derry’s Emmett Bradley challenged by Peadar O Coffey Byrne at Celtic Park
Dublin suffered their first defeat of the season against Mickey Harte’s Derry in a Division One match at Celtic Park.
The All-Ireland champions deserved a 1-16 to 1-11 victory over the Ulster champions, who had won all four league games prior to Saturday’s game.
Derry were without several key players and found themselves trailing 0-9 to 4-1 at half-time after Conor McCloskey’s 27th-minute goal.
Cormac Costello scored for Dublin in the 52nd minute and Brian Fenton produced a great performance.
This top two showdown will see leaders Derry and All-Ireland champions touted as the in-form side, having produced their best performance of the season in defeating Kerry by 10 points last week.
But Hart’s decision to rest some key players like Conor Glass and make seven changes from last week’s win over Galway took some of the sting and importance out of this game.
Still, the match did not disappoint. Dublin were the better side in the first half, but at the break they were only leading from 0-9 to 1-4.
Dublin set the early pace by pushing Derry’s kick-outs and made some valuable mistakes in possession, with Ross McGarry and Paddy Small scoring from long range.
Cormac Costello celebrates after scoring second-half goal for Dublin against Derry
The Dubs had six different scorers by half-time, with Ciaran Kilkenny in great form from the play, 0-3.
However, Derry lost marker Conor McCloskey, who was replaced by Diarmuid Baker after missing a few early goals, but with Derry struggling after 27 minutes, McCloskey was crucial. He scored a great goal.
Derry led 0-7 to 0-3, but a quick transition saw Cormac Murphy play the ball through to McCloskey, who kicked the ball low with his left foot. He also found the back of the net against Monaghan, making it his second consecutive major goal in a home game.
Dublin responded well with goals from Brian Fenton and Sean Bugler, and Emmett Bradley’s left-handed shot late in the first half gave Derry a two-goal lead.
Hart made three changes at the start of the second half, bringing on first-team regulars Ethan Doherty, Eoin McEvoy and Padraig McGrogan.
Derry remained in touch in the third quarter, but Dublin had most of the possession and applied the necessary throttle with Kilkenny and Ross McGarry’s pointing, although they didn’t always take advantage of it.
Shane McGuigan’s class has been talked about for a long time, and he landed 0-4 from his second-half play, holding Derry in check as Dublin tried to pull away.
He also almost scored a special goal when David O’Hanlon came off his line and his long-range lob was brilliantly parried away by the Dublin keeper.
After McGuigan’s excellent extra point, the match progressed well when, in the 50th minute, Dublin scored the decisive blow with a goal from Costello, 1-7 to 0-12.
Niall Scully’s powerful shot was cleared off the line by Donncha Gilmour, and substitute Costello pounced on the ball and slotted it low into the net.
From there, Dublin never looked back and the game stalled. Much quicker play took the runner off his shoulder and Derry found it impossible to dictate terms in the final quarter.
Paul Cassidy, McGuigan and Eoin McEvoy scored late goals, while Dublin took six points from five games and are well placed with two league games remaining.
