Cassidy pleased to get over Westmeath
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
THE Derry manager was pleased to have the fixture behind him and admitted he thought his side were about to wrap things up when they opened a six point gap, but a Martin Flanagan goal almost spoilt his plans.
“We had a three point lead and that was a reflection of the first half and then in the second half we came out and responded well and put six points on it. We had two score-able wides to put seven and eight on it and at that stage we thought the game was going away from Westmeath and we were home and dry but a goal against the run of play, and that was followed closely by a second yellow card on Joe Diver which was a very, very tough call, particularly the first one in the conditions with the torrential rain and when the ground was slippery and that left me disappointed at how it contributed to Westmeath's resurgence in the game."
Cassidy admits there will need to be a tightening of the defence before the third round of the qualifiers against Kildare. "There are parts of the game where the high ball came in and they scored, that we want to examine but at the same time we wanted to find out what kind of spirit was in the team. The boys dug in and battled manly for everything that came their way. We seen them get a point with four or five minutes to go and that left three in it."
Derry's best player on the day was evident by his outstanding performance. "Mark Lynch is a quality player and he has been for a while and he is starting to mature. He has been very consistent for Derry right across the National League right through to today's game. He deserves all of the credit that comes his way."
Although through to the third round qualifiers the ghost of Paddy Bradley's departure still haunts the after match discussions involving the Derry manager.
Bradley was named in the substitutes for the game with Carlow and decided instead to opt out of the panel. "There has been suggestions from different pundits from within the press that there is turmoil within the Derry camp and to be frank with you, these guys love to spin a story to create a better media time for themselves.
“The facts of the matter are that the spirit in the camp, the togetherness, the attitude at training, and the turnout is as good as you would expect from any team across the country.
“Whenever you hear people making those calls based on something that happened with one player, they make all sorts of assumptions. It begs the question: 'What are they trying to do?' It is not about the facts of the matter and I think the last fifteen minutes (of Saturday's game), was going to achieve and show what spirit was in our team and it was backs against the wall with the breeze and the rain."
At present there seems to be no way back for the Glenn an Iolair player in the immediate future. "None what so ever. The situation is, and this is how the story evolved; he trained prior to the game against Carlow and we made a call on performance in training and on performance in a couple of challenge matches that we played, and we are entitled to do that.
“Whenever you walk in the door as a player it is all conditional, you do the same as everyone else and it is performance based and (both) hunger and attitude is very important in every player. It was a football decision based simply on football and Paddy decided he wanted to leave the panel based on that. There was no disagreement, no fall out, it was very amicable and that is why when you hear the stories people are putting forward, (then) it becomes very, very frustrating. That is the story so there isn't really a story."
The situation with Paddy was that it wasn't a football issue last year. You hear people writing and saying: 'Paddy has a thing with me and me with Paddy,' that is nonsense. We get on perfectly fine and I am not spinning a yarn and I am just telling you as it is, we do get on perfectly fine. I made a football decision, he didn't agree with it and he decided to walk."
However the Derry manager indicated the door was not closed as regards a possible inter county role for Bradley in the future, should he contact Cassidy in the future. " That's Paddy's call. He is a good player and he has represented Derry with distinction over the past nine or ten years, and if Paddy decides he wants to come into the game we are certainly not going to turn our back on him."
Derry picked up eight yellow cards (two to Joe Diver) while five were issued to Westmeath. "The crowd is always an indicator of what they feel is happening and how they judge the call that is made At different times we had the crowd not agreeing with what they were seeing out on the field. Like everyone else we all have good days and bad days but when you come into the game with those sort of conditions, sometimes you just have to take into consideration those situations. However he (Michael Duffy) refereed the game fairly."
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