Mickey Harte: Derry produced 'A-game' display in win over Kerry, says Oak Leaf boss
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Derry forward Shane McGuigan celebrates kicking the winning free against Kerry on Saturday night
Derry manager Mickey Harte praised his team's performance in beating Kerry in the Allianz Football League Division One opener in Tralee.
The newly promoted Ulster side avenged their All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Kerry by winning 0-15 to 2-8 in Tralee.
"It was important that our players gave an A-game performance and I think they did that," said Harte.
"It would have been a travesty if we didn't get something out of that game - we worked hard enough to get a win."
Derry led 0-8 to 0-4 at half-time but the Kingdom fought back before Shane McGuigan's late free won it for an Oak Leaf side making their first top-flight appearance since 2015.
Former Tyrone and Louth boss Harte, who was taking charge of Derry for the first time in a league match, believes his team won despite decisions not going their way at Austin Stack Park.
"On many occasions we felt we worth a whistle or two and it's difficult to play when you have to come through that in a very intense game like that," he added.
"I wasn't particularly encourage by what I saw out there. Fair play to the players, they hung there and never gave up.
"We had to work really hard for anything we got and I think we worked hard for things we didn't even get. It's a good outcome for us - we worked hard enough to get a win."
"As a new team coming up to Division One, and haven't been there for some time, they didn't go in with any inferiority complex.
"We knew Kerry were missing some key figures, really game winners but that didn't matter, we had to deal with what we had to deal with and there were still lots of good players to be dealt with."