Five things we learned from the GAA weekend: Derry prove that shoot-outs are no lottery

Derry’s goalkeeper Odhran Lynch saves a penalty from Ryan O'Donoghue of Mayo on Saturday. The Derry goalkeeper has faced 13 shots and saved five in the county's last three shoot-outs. Photograph: James Crombie/InphoSay this much for Derry – they are putting the lie to the notion that penalty shoot-outs are a lottery. Saturday night was the third time in just over a year that they’ve had to settle a game on spot kicks and it’s the third time they’ve come through the test.

Displays in previous quarter-finals had been compromised by fatigue – the wan 2022 defeat of Wexford – or the shortcomings of the opposition – last year’s turkey shoot against Dublin. If the weekend also featured opponents weakened by Rory O’Connor’s 33rd minute red card, the overall performance was sharper and bounce back from the provincial final all the more evident.

“In some ways it’s more disappointing but easier as a psychological battle to get over it. We were able to put it behind us after a couple of days and move on.”In the aftermath of what was the most significant achievement of his fledgling managerial career, Ger Brennan would have been forgiven on Sunday for basking in the afterglow at Grattan Park and taking all the plaudits and claps on the back.

“We have a super management team there, a lot of experience and different skillsets, so you are able to encourage and coach the guys in different areas. The group themselves are incredibly talented and knowledgeable, they are telling us stuff and we are going, ‘You know what, that’s actually better than what we were thinking,’ so you just gel the thing together and you make it happen.”

Dublin played with just one inside forward for much of the game, and only threatened a goal in the last few minutes when Eoghan O’Donnell was pushed into centre field and they finally populated their attack. In the Leinster final, they stacked players out the field too and only picked up a posthumous goal when they flooded their forward line in the closing minutes. Piling forward late on in lost matches is not a sustainable strategy though.

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