DERRY are without an entire squad of players as they brace themselves for a relegation dogfight in Division Two.
Last Sunday’s humiliating defeat to Down at Celtic Park left the Oak Leafers second-from-bottom with three points from four games and next up is a trip to promotion hopefuls Galway on March 19 before they finish their campaign against fellow strugglers Cork (at home) and Fermanagh (away).
Manager Damian Barton will have to prepare for those vital games without players from county and provincial champions Slaughtneil, his U21 panel as well as up to a dozen seasoned campaigners who are either injured or unavailable this season.
Slaughtneil are preparing for their All-Ireland club final against Kerry’s Dr Croke’s on St Patrick’s Day meaning key defenders Chrissy and Karl McKaigue and Brendan Rodgers are ruled out, as well as the likes of Patsy Bradley, Padraic Cassidy, Paul McNeill, Shane McGuigan, Meehaul McGrath and Keelan Feeney.
Also out of the picture are the U21 players who featured against Down last Sunday including Niall Keenan, Conor McGrogan, Oisin Hegarty, Barry Grant, Jack Doherty and Michael McEvoy. They are now preparing for an Ulster quarter-final on March 15 with the winners of tonight’s Antrim versus Monaghan preliminary round clash.
And then there are injured stars like Danny Heavron, Ciaran McFaul, Mark Lynch and Niall Toner as well as the players who opted out of the panel this season including Sean Leo and Liam McGoldrick, Niall Holly, Emmet Bradley, Christopher Bradley and Eoghan Brown.
“We have a number of U21s in our squad so the objective is to give them every chance to prepare for the U21 championship,” explained assistant-manager Brian McGuckin after last Sunday’s loss to Down at Celtic Park.
“So all the U21s will be training with the U21 squad this week which leaves us with a very low number of players but we will be taking the senior players and trying to get them into shape for Galway in a fortnight.”
McGuckin was bitterly disappointed with Derry’s display against Down last Sunday.
“What is so disappointing for us is the way in which we were beaten and the way we were beat down in Navan because that is certainly something we have to address to ensure it does not happen again,” he said.
Down had 1-10 on the board before Derry scored at Celtic Park and, though they rallied briefly before half-time, the Oak Leafers lost by eight points at the final whistle. McGuckin admitted it would be difficult to lift the players for their trip to Tuam on March 19.
“Of course it is, but it is deja va in a way,” he said.
“We were beaten comprehensively by Meath, responded well (by beating Kildare) and unfortunately it has happened again today.
“There is nothing else we can do other than go back to the training field and do everything in our power to improve which is what we intend to do.”
He added “There are players being thrown in the deep end due to the constraints we have with player availability, but that is to make an excuse.
“The team we had out was more than capable of defeating Down. We just couldn't match Down's attitude to win and their endeavour. They got themselves into a position in the game after 20 minutes which just left us with far too much to do and they way they controlled periods of the second half.
“We were flat. We didn't do ourselves justice and our bigger players who shone well against Kildare didn't perform to the heights that they are capable of.”
