Moran aggrieved by the referee's whistle

For several minutes the Derry and Tyrone managers stand contemplating the previous 70 minutes with their players. The final whistle has just blown on game they all know they could have won just as easily as they could have lost. Maybe a draw is a fair result after all.

But it's fair too to assume that, having led for those closing stages, it's Mickey Moran, the Derry manager, who has the more reason to contemplate the loss of a victory rather than just a loss. He walks forward to the assembled media and explains his case.

"Yeah, we'd be very disappointed we didn't take it. We were four points up and I think if we saw that one more chance (from Fergal Doherty) go over I think we would have killed it.

"Fair credit to Tyrone for coming back. But Anthony (Tohill) did tire for us at the end and then Sean Martin Lockhart had to come off as well with a knock in the side. And I suppose we did lose our shape a bit again and Tyrone came back at us. But they are a good team. And it's going to take another big push to get over them next weekend. But we'll be trying."

One matter Moran was clearly disappointed about with was the use of the referee's whistle: "I usually don't say much about the officialdom, but you would have to look at the balance of decisions out there, and look at the number of decisions that were given against us.

"I am pleased for the boys and the heart they showed, but you just have to look at the balance of dubious decisions, I am very unhappy with it."

One specific example was the second-half penalty claim of Paddy Bradley. "Well no, I don't want to go into specifics," was how Moran responded to that.

Moran, though, was sure Derry were in no way facing a crisis at half-time, despite trailing 0-7 to 0-3.

"Look, we did hit over some points against a very stiff breeze. And against Tyrone players that were tackling in droves. I would say five out of their seven points came form referee decisions.

"So I would say we were still well in there. And to be honest we're very disappointed we didn't win it. I suppose that's the irony of Gaelic football, that we have to be happy then at the end when he blew the whistle.

"And I thought Paddy Bradley gave an exemplary performance and this is a guy who is the middle of his final exams. So, he is studying and preparing for his exams and he has to prepare for a championship game, to give the performance he did in those circumstances shows how good a player he is."

For Mickey Harte the first championship outing at senior level very nearly became the manager's worst nightmare. For most of the second half yesterday Tyrone supporters feared the worst too, and that the team holding their dreams were about to re-visit the same dark place they did against Sligo last summer.

Yet in those closing 10 minutes the team did unearth the fighting qualities that Harte has been trying so hard to instil. "It didn't look good with 12 minutes to go," he admitted. "It looked like it was going to be one of those classic days when league champions go out in the first day of the championship.

"But that question about our character is asked all the time and I hope the boys answered it there. They didn't give a full answer, but I am very pleased the way they fought back into a game they thought they had lost.

"And I suppose there weren't many times in the league when our character was questioned, because we were always leading from the front. But our character was questioned out there and the lads responded. There was no more testing question of their character than the deficit they had to come back from with 15 minutes to go."