In the end, a season that had promised so much for Derry fizzled out in puzzling fashion and left manager Mickey Harte trying to come to terms with the speed of the decline.
Three months ago, Derry were jubilant in Croke Park after beating Dublin in the Allianz League Division One final and were strongly fancied as All-Ireland contenders.
Yet here was the Derry manager, back in Croke Park, trying to make sense of a tumultuous championship in the wake of a forgettable five-point defeat by Kerry in Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final.
“We did intend to be back for a few more games here, at least one and maybe two, and that’s not happening which is very disappointing because it is a long time to the beginning of the new season,” said Harte.
“It looks so far away now for everyone involved but that’s life and sport.”
Kerry may have delivered the decisive knockout blow, but Derry’s demise in recent weeks has been a slow and painful one with three losses in a row to Donegal, Galway and Armagh.
While they clung on to survival with unconvincing wins over Westmeath and Mayo, they never regained the swagger of the spring. Why?
“It was a challenge to get back to the level that we had in the league,” said Harte.
“I suppose the nature of the defeats was the big thing, it wasn’t just that we were beaten, we were beaten badly by Donegal and Armagh and we had a crazy battle with Galway in terms of losing a man and all of that.”
