ULTIMATE 'WARRIOR'

Farrell heaps praise on leader Kilkenny as Dublin progress in Newry

- BY GARRY DOYLE

IT was an image that reminded you of where Dublin used to be.

Players huddled together, sharing hugs and stories, turning to the crowd to celebrate another great victory.

And that was what Saturday's win was. Yes, Derry's form had been awful since last year's League final but they produced their best performance in 16 months here, falling two points short.

But even though they crashed out of the Championship, they didn't play like losers.

"They have three players who are in the best 10 Gaelic footballers in the country," said Dessie Farrell.

And to be fair, the support cast aren't too shabby either.

Knitted together, they were able to test Dublin severely, recovering from a four-point deficit after four minutes, and later from a three-point deficit to get to half time on level terms.

But then the Dublin side of 2025 impersonated the Dubs team of 2023 and all those years from the previous decade.

They hustled, they harried, they worked. They had warm hearts and cool heads and most of all they had Con O'Callaghan and Ciaran Kilkenny.

Afterwards Farrell said: "A lot of people will focus on Con, and he was excellent, but I also have to say Ciaran was a real warrior tonight.