Derry manager Tom McLean admits that disappointment was the overriding feeling following their NHL Division 2A defeat to Wicklow.

The Oakleafers needed a big winning margin over Wicklow to have a chance of reaching the 2A final, but not only could they achieve that, they failed to win the match.

And McLean told the County Derry Post that having to win by so much probably seeped into the players' minds ahead of the game.

"If anyone had read anything I'd said all week about Wicklow, I said the last three or four times Derry had played Wicklow, it had been a really tough fixture," said McLean.

"They beat us down in Wicklow a couple of years ago, and we were lucky to beat them in a Christy Ring game up here. You saw what happened then on Sunday.

"I don't know if it got to the players or they were thinking more about how much they were going to win by. We were telling them all week that the game had to be won first and foremost."

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