City of Derry produce season's best display to defeat Tullamore

City of Derry 26, Tullamore 5

Questions were asked after last week's disappointing defeat to Bangor and City of Derry gave their answer with a season's best display that blew open the All Ireland League Division 2C once more.

Only seven days ago, that defeat to their Ulster rivals appeared to have condemned Derry to a battle for AIL survival with Head Coach, Paul O'Kane, demanding a response from his players.

And on Saturday, amid the wind, rain and hail of the latest storm to lash the north west, Derry produced their most complete performance since O'Kane took the reins to secure a bonus point victory against a team who went into the game third and with one eye on promotion.

Aggression, control, pace and power, Derry's display had a touch of everything to secure a victory that while only moving the locals up one place to eighth, means only seven points separate the seven teams from Tullamore in third to Bangor in ninth place.

Any one of those sides could yet find themselves in trouble, just as anyone could also make a late push for third, it';s that close but if Derry can reproduce this level of performance, there's only one direction of travel they will be moving.

That's the challenge for O'Kane's squad now. They set a high bar here with three first half tries with the wind at their backs before a try as crucial as it was brilliant from David Lapsley 10 minutes into the second period.

Lapsley's try not only secured the bonus point, it broke Tullamore's second half momentum and from there, Derry game management, often deep inside their own '22' was simply superb.

O'Kane had sprung a pre-match surprise by moving Simon Logue in scrum-half, shifting Davy Graham to the wing and recalling Neil Burns who was excellent at full-back.

Derry's scrum was superb all afternoon and the back line efficient and clinical but the biggest difference was decision making, using the wind perfectly in the opening half to gain territory before carrying and driving to control proceedings after the break.

The home side got off to a perfect start on five minutes, kicking Tullamore back into their '22' from where Derry started to go through the phases. Tullamore were holding on already but when Derry pulled enough defenders into a ruck, play was switched left with Neil Burns joining the line perfectly from his deep position to dart through a gap in the visitors' defence and score under the posts. With Alex McDonnell converting, Derry had the start they wanted at 7-0.

A good start became a superb start 10 minutes later with an almost carbon copy move. Davy Graham was the executioner this time, the jet heeled winger showing just why he's probably the best finisher in the division by taking a McDonnell pass and running around the Tullamore cover for a second converted try and a 14-0 lead.

Tullamore, though, haven't climbed to third by being brushed aside without a fight in this division and showed they were not going to allow Derry to have things all their own way by forcing Derry back from the restart before second row Ciaran Ennis finally forced his way over amid a sea of bodies after 10 plus phases.

The conversion was missed but Tullamore had signalled their intent.

Derry responded in the best possible manner. McDonnell's kicking took them local back into the Tullamore '22' but the visitors' defence was holding firm as the clock ticked toward half-time. Given the conditions, a nine point lead would have been scant reward for Derry's half of dominance. They looked to have squandered one decent opening when Dennis Posternak couldn't get his pass away with men over on his outside.

Derry's pressure was winning penalties though and from one, Logue's trademark quick thinking at the foot of an attacking scrum saw him ghost through the Tullamore defence for a third try to secure a richly deserved 19-5 interval lead.

Tullamore came out determined to peg Derry back after the break but, if anything, were guilty of over reliance on the conditions while Derry stuck rigidly to a game-plan that continued to work against the wind.

After surviving the early onslaught, Derry hit back. a brilliant Davy Graham break from inside his own '22' almost got David Lapsley in at the other end of the pitch but the big centre wouldn't have to wait long for his try.

With 50 minutes on the clock and conditions as bad as any time during the game, Derry continued their brave tacti of running ball and were rewarding for a fourth time when Lapseley spotted a gap and showed great pace to go through the middle of the Tullamore defence and danced around the cover to score a memorable fourth. McDonnell converted and Derry had their bonus in the bag with half an hour remaining.

The other four points were never in danger. If anything Derry probably left another try or two our on the pitch during 30 minutes in which they controlled the game superbly. Neil Burns marshalled things from the anchor position and when the locals, needed their pack, new captain Richard Baird and his fellow forward were faultless.

The whistle signalled a richly deserved five points that change the complexion of the table once more in an ever evolving season. With five games to go, if Derry can add consistency to this level of performance, a top four finish would not be out of the question.

City of Derry: James Hamilton, Ross Harkin, Quermy Wamerdam, Gerard Doherty, Stephen Kelly, Stephen Corr, Tiernan Thornton, Richard Baird, Simon Logue, Alex McDonnell, Thomas Cole, Dennis Posternak, David Lapsley, David Graham, Neil Burns. (Replacements) Cathal Cregan, Barry Laverty, Craig Huey, Callum O'Hagan, Ricardo Schnieder.

Tullamore RFC: Shayne Fleming, Cathal Feighery, Eamonn Bracken, Tiernan Mealiffe, Ciaran Ennis, Steven Pyke, Kevin Browne, Barry Bracken, Derek Farrell, Craig Strong, Cathal Farrell, Josu Camillo Amuabarrena. (Replacements) Kealan Ferry, Brendan McSweeney, David Boland, Michael Tormey, Jerome Scully.

Referee: Mr. Paul O'Connor