Jim McGuinness was completely baffled by Derry's tactics in Sunday's Ulster SFC derby against Tyrone.

Writing his weekly column for The Irish Times, Donegal's 2012 All-Ireland winning manager points out that the Oak Leaf County's approach was such that they had zero chance of winning:

"I sat down to watch Derry and Tyrone on Sunday having heard a lot of talk about the history of this fixture, including the 100-year-long rivalry and the thorny relationship between the two counties. It surprised me and I felt it was blown out of proportion.

"Where is the evidence of this passionate rivalry? I'm not sure it exists as much as was depicted in the build-up, but it did set the match up as a kind of thunderous confrontation between two teams that would not yield an inch. That is why it was all the more deflating to realise, as a neutral, that there was only going to be one winner after just ten minutes of play.

"There is no doubt that Tyrone were very slick, as well as being accurate and impressive in their execution of their game plan. But I spent Sunday evening and most of yesterday trying to figure what it was that Derry hoped to achieve in the game. I still don't know.

"Time and again as they attacked, they had 10 or 11 players spread across the offensive 45 with no option inside them and lateral ball movement. To what end?

"Derry's game plan has, for quite a while, been based on possession football. They retain the ball and look for openings. This played into Tyrone's hands. Derry took the ball into contact so many times which gave Tyrone the opportunity to create turnovers. And because Derry had spread so many players across the Tyrone 45, it meant they had a maximum of two defenders back down the pitch along with their goalkeeper. So they had absolutely no balance in their team.

"Championship is the pinnacle of what players are playing for: why they go to the gym and train hard and sacrifice a social life. It is why they allow football to dominate their lives: for a championship Sunday. And now you are playing your "arch rivals" and you let them run 120 metres with the ball on your home pitch without laying a hand on them? I am struggling with that.

"Tyrone looked good, very good. They will take a lot of stopping in Ulster. But the challenge they met on Sunday was almost non-existent.

"The challenge for Tyrone down the track will be the teams that ask the same questions they do. Derry's overall approach meant that they simply could not win this game. But they needn't have lost it in the manner that they did."

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