Brendan Rogers says Derry players must take responsibility for performances

Derry footballer Brendan Rogers says the players must take their share of the blame for poor performances by the county in the championship this year.

After winning Division One, optimism was high for Derry heading into the championship.

However, after defeat to Donegal in the Ulster quarter-final, further defeats followed against Galway and Armagh, as their season ended in the quarter-finals to Kerry.

It also saw Mickey Harte's time in charge come to an end after just one season. For Rogers, he could not put it down to one specific reason, but said all the blame should not be with the management.

"It is very difficult to say what exactly went wrong," he said, citing a mix of injuries, below par performances, and tactical mistakes. "There are so many variables that we encountered.

"It looks like the wheels fell off the wagon and that things fell apart but that wasn't the case. I just think we did a few things wrong at critical times, and we were punished heavily by very good teams and very organised teams.

"I would go as far to say the players are as accountable as management. Everything was in agreement together. It didn’t work out, absolutely we have a lot to learn from that. Ultimately, we did learn from that, it was just too late. After the first few defeats we put in a performance against Mayo, and then we just didn’t back it up against Kerry.

"I am thankful for the time we had, he did help us win a national league. An Ulster team had not won one in maybe over 15 years [Derry in 2008] and it was good to get over that line."

After several names were linked to the manager's job, including former boss Rory Gallagher, Derry appointed Paddy Tally.

Despite months of speculation, Rogers says the players always had faith in