Brian McIver put Derry's first half no-show against Mayo down to showing the opposition too much respect.

"In the first half some of the lads were probably a wee bit overawed," the Oak Leaf manager opined after his understrength side went into the break trailing by 0-1 to 0-8 before turning in a much-improved second half display.

"Mayo had All Stars on the field, a lot of last year's All-Ireland final side, so we knew what a good challenge it would be for our boys.

"In the first half it was just a lack of composure, we gave away the ball umpteen times. We were shooting from too far out and not working the scores. So we said, 'Let's just settle down and play our own football'. I have to say they played some (excellent) football in the second half."

He also denied that Derry had indulged in some shadow boxing by making 14 changes ahead of next weekend's semi-final rematch.

"That wasn't something we considered," he insisted.

"We wanted to see how these lads would perform. If you don't give lads an opportunity, you won't know how they'll perform. I'm happy because it means that going into the Mayo game next weekend we know we have options to look at." Tweet

Most Read Stories