IN ULSTER, form never lies. The argument that Tyrone would work the alchemy necessary to transform the base substance of the last month into something even semi precious was rudely refuted by Derry in yesterday's Bank of Ireland Ulster football semifinal.
It was a miserable afternoon for the losers, lifted only by their minors' good win over Monaghan, and by the poignant warmth of both the silent tribute to and subsequent applause for Paul McGirr, the Tyrone minor who died after an injury sustained in scoring a goal for his county two weeks ago.
Where Tyrone's awfulness ended and Derry's brilliance began is a consideration for an other day, but, given a stunning start, the reigning Ulster champions scored only once more before halftime and waited another 40 minutes for their next score from play.
During the period of the match when the issue was in the balance, Derry's players provided enough positive indicators to add substance to the impressive style of the victory. After traumatic defeats by Tyrone at this stage of the last two championships, Derry's revenge on their neighbours was total.
Their most exuberant performers were in the full forward line, and no wonder selector Frank Kearney afterwards spoke so enthusiastically about his team's scoring capacity. Corner forwards Joe Brolly and Joe Cassidy contributed 1-8 between them, and Seamus Downey chipped in a goal.
Brolly has now scored a goal in every championship match this year and, despite dire warnings, he survived another flamboyant display of blowing kisses to the crowd after yesterday's strike.
Cassidy is a splendid arrival, a young footballer whose reputation hasn't sabotaged his career and whose scoring returns reflect that.
While the Clones crowd of 25,271 waited for Tyrone to take a hold of the match for some portion of the 70 minutes, Derry kept motoring and for the last halfhour, tension was replaced by merely mild curiosity about the final winning margin.
Before the throwin, Tyrone made a couple of tactical switches. Most surprisingly, Pascal Canavan, whose spoiling and intelligent mobility created the supply lines for last year's emphatic defeat of Derry was moved to the 40 with Seamus McCallan coming to midfield.
The move never really worked as Anthony Tohill, playing more defensively than usual, and Dermot Heaney, whose strength gave great solidity to the sector, dismantled the static challenge of McCallan and Kilpatrick.
Derry's own alteration was of even greater significance. Johnny McBride and Gary Coleman swapped roles on the left side of the defence, releasing Coleman to his best position on the wing. His excellence had miserable historical cadences for Adrian Cush, whose meteoric early career never recovered from his double mauling by Coleman five years ago in the league final and championship sequel two weeks later.
Yesterday, the Magherafelt wing back controlled his man in the primary arena, and also pushed up the field at the end of the first quarter to kick the two points that levelled the match by the 22nd minute, after which Tyrone's resistance drained away in the hot summer sun.
Their opening blast had been lively. Exploiting a poor clearance by Kieran McKeever and slack anticipation by Fergal McCusker, Tyrone's wing back Noel Donnelly galloped onto the ball, exchanged passes with Peter Canavan and hit the net.
The match was now in Tyrone's control. The team looked sharp and threatening going forward. How Derry might have reacted to further setbacks during this critical phase is a matter of conjecture, but too often the ball ended up with the wrong man as McCallan, Kilpatrick and Matt McGleenan found themselves incapable of extracting the maximum from good positions.
McGleenan had started in lordly form, beating McBride in early exchanges. Strangely, the tall English attacker never took his place at full forward, as announced during the week, but lined out at his programme position in the right corner.
This meant that David O'Neill's suspect form under high ball was never examined and, after beginning promisingly, McGleenan found McBride, captain of Derry's All Ireland winning under 21s, in unyielding humour. Although he snapped up Tyrone's second goal after the interval, McGleenan's general contribution steadily dwindled.
Having failed to capitalise on the chances created, and with Derry strangling any supply of decent ball for Peter Canavan (who was already having to battle with opposing captain and old rival McKeever in the left corner), Tyrone's lead ebbed. After Cush missed a 45 in the 21st minute, Tohill took a fine catch on the restart and within a minute the scores were level.
The closing 10 minutes of the half saw Derry pull away even more emphatically than the five points scored suggested. On two occasions, goals were there for the taking. In the 27th minute, Joe Cassidy's options were skillfully reduced by Finbar McConnell in the Tyrone goal and Cassidy settled for a point. Three minutes later, a robust drive by Heaney set up McCusker, who also preferred not to risk a goal attempt and took his point.
The four point half time deficit - 1-1 to 0-8 - quickly got worse for Tyrone, who had replaced Brian Dooher, having had no joy in his dealings with Sean Lockhart and Gerard Cavlan. Cassidy tacked on two points. In the 40th minute, Dougan's incision into Tyrone's territory placed Brolly perfectly for a goal.
Within two minutes, a misplaced pass from Tohill to McBride gifted McGleenan a goal for only his side's third score of the afternoon. That - 2-1 to 1-10 - was as near as Tyrone managed to get.
The remaining 20 minutes saw Derry pull further and further away. Good combination play by Dougan and Lockhart created an opening for Seamus Downey which he exploited with a well taken goal in the 60th minute.
