Derry senior football manager Damian McErlain
DERRY manager Damian McErlain says the eight weeks since the disappointment of relegation to Division Four have allowed him to assemble his best players for the first time this year.
This Sunday, May 27, his side faces fierce rivals Donegal in the quarter final of the Ulster Senior Football Championship (throw in 4 pm).
The Magherafelt native says Derry are determined to give a good account of themselves at Celtic Park.
“Given that we’ve had a seriously busy club month in April – seven games in five weeks – we’re relatively happy with the injury count,” said the Derry manager.
“The guys are all match-ready, match-fit and that’s testament to the conditioning we did pre-Christmas.
“We focussed 100 per cent on conditioning pre-Christmas because we didn’t think we’d get the opportunity later in the year and that proved to be more accurate than I thought it would be.
“When the McKenna Cup started, I was thinking ‘oh dear, have we over-cooked the strength and conditioning?’ But at this point I’m absolutely delighted because that was the only opportunity to get the team into the physical condition they needed to be and the boys look in good shape at the minute.”
Benny Heron is the only injury setback for the Oak Leafers and since the League ended, McErlain has welcomed back Slaughtneil Ulster club winners Chrissy and Karl McKaigue, Brendan Rodgers, Paul McNeill, Shane McGuigan and Padraig Cassidy as well as experienced Coleraine wing-back Sean Leo McGoldrick.
“The influx of quality that the boys coming back give you at training is significant,” said McErlain.
“It brings the other players on as well – it gives the whole thing a lift. It’s like the county player coming back to play for his club – it always gives the thing a lift having that bit of quality about.
“They came back at the right time – the clocks changed and the ground hardened up – so everybody was in good form about it, they’ve been superb and it’s been great to have them.”
McErlain led Derry’s minors into an Ulster semi-final clash with Declan Bonner’s Donegal youngsters back in 2015. The Oak Leafers were rank underdogs back then too, but they returned home from Clones with a one-point win and went on to win the Ulster title.
“It has to be the same mindset on Sunday,” said McErlain.
“We were massive underdogs, we had no chance and we had minimal support in Clones that night so it was just all about us and the team and delivering a performance that elevated the minors and us as a management team.
“We realised that the work we had put into that performance set the benchmark for the next three years and the rest is history. It is a similar situation now.
“That was an unbelievable Donegal team – Michael Langan is in their senior team now, Niall O’Donnell is still floating around their squad so they have a lot of good players came out of it. There are a lot of similarities but this is senior football now, it’s a step up.
“Can we close the gap? Can we get ourselves prepared properly to deliver a performance on the day? We’re excited to find out.”
McErlain watched Donegal hammer out an eight-point win over Cavan in Ballybofey and says: “We know what’s coming at us.
“They’re a good side and probably more experienced than us even though they have a lot of new blood in their side.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge, we’re looking forward to bringing them to Celtic Park and seeing how we can get our game together and how we can compete.”
Tags: