County Derry Post

Following his side’s thrilling 3-11 to 2-13 win over Armagh on Sunday, Derry supremo Brian McGilligan confirmed that dual star Liam Hinphey has stepped down from the county’s hurling panel.
 
By Cahair O’Kane
sport@derrypost.com
 
Hinphey, whose brother Kevin returned to captain Derry in their victory at Keady, has been part of the football setup under Paddy Crozier’s reign and has found it increasingly difficult to juggle both codes, and the argument has finally come to a head, with the Kevin Lynch’s man seemingly deciding to concentrate his efforts on the big ball game.
“Liam Hinphey has made his decision – he’s going to concentrate on football for the rest of this year.  As far as we’re aware, he’s given me an indication that he’s not going to play hurling this year.” 
He leaves behind a young team who showed great character to see off the tough challenge provided by Mattie Lennon’s side, with the experienced head of Ruairi Convery helping them use their get-out-of-jail-free card thanks to two late frees that decided the game. 
McGilligan admitted that, while his side deserved the victory, they could easily have come home empty handed. 
 “Definitely, we got out of jail there.  I think when you look back over the game, Derry were probably the better team but there were a lot of silly mistakes made. 
“We had a lot of inexperienced players playing and there were mistakes being made left, right and centre.  At this level of hurling, you just can’t do that.  From the basics like the lifting the ball to clearances, instead of clearing to the wings we were clearing balls down the middle. 
“Over the game, Derry were the better team.  They got that goal at the start of the second half and, nine points up, they probably thought they had it won and relaxed and as a result, Armagh came back into it.  We were lucky to hold on to it.” 
The All-Ireland football winner has inherited a young side from Gabriel O’Kane and admits that it could be difficult for Derry to challenge the likes of Antrim for the Ulster title this season. 
“Whenever you look at this Derry team, there’s ten under-21s on it.  It’s basically a new team that we’re trying to build here.  The point’s taken that Armagh probably wouldn’t be at the same level as the Antrims or the Downs but they’re doing a lot of work and have their county board and all behind them. 
“We’re trying to build here, everybody has their shoulder to the wheel and we have 24 or 25 boys prepared to play hurling.  They might not be the best hurlers in Derry but they’re prepared to do it all and these things don’t just happen overnight, you have to work at them.”