Football

Banty's bench likely to swing first win in Rory Gallagher's maiden Derry outing

Promising Monaghan forward Stephen O'Hanlon has opted out of the panel for 2020.<br /> Picture by Philip Walsh
Promising Monaghan forward Stephen O'Hanlon has opted out of the panel for 2020.
Picture by Philip Walsh
Promising Monaghan forward Stephen O'Hanlon has opted out of the panel for 2020.
Picture by Philip Walsh

Bank of Ireland Dr McKenna Cup Section A: Monaghan v Derry (tomorrow, 2pm, Inniskeen)

SO this is Christmas, and what have you done? Well, if you’re a Monaghan or Derry footballer, the answer is 'train'.

The Farneymen have been going five days a week for a while, and the Oak Leafers trained on 26 out of 30 days recently.

Whatever turkey and ham they might have tucked away over the last week has been well paid for in advance.

Their regimes are about building the base they need to compete when they want to be competing.

It’s a tried and tested technique for Derry’s new manager, Rory Gallagher. In his first year in charge of Fermanagh, they did pretty much exactly the same thing. They won promotion from Division Three and ended the summer in a rare Ulster final.

They took the following winter much easier. But the first year was about finding the level they needed to be at in order to compete as they climbed the ladder.

Derry are in very much the same boat now. They will begin the League in Division Three and the race to the shore will include Cork, Down and Tipperary. It’s a race that will also determine their championship status for the summer, which leaves even more riding on promotion than usual.

While preparations have been intense, they’ve also been hampered by the absence of the hurling contingents from Slaughtneil and Eoghan Rua, both of whom are preparing for All-Ireland club semi-finals.

That leaves them down eight men, namely Brendan Rogers, Chrissy and Karl McKaigue, Shane McGuigan, Colm and Liam McGoldrick, Niall Holly and Ruairi Mooney.

They will have Slaughtneil duo Padraig Cassidy and Christopher Bradley available, neither of whom plays dual code for the club.

On the long-term injured list are another Emmet’s man, Paul McNeill, as well as Enda Lynn and Jason Rocks, the latter pair having both suffered cruciate ligament injuries in the latter part of 2019.

They’ve been working off a squad of 40 men, although it no longer includes Danny Heavron. He had been expected to return after guiding Magherafelt to club championship glory but opted out before things got off the ground.

It’s also unlikely that Gareth McKinless will feature. He’d initially signed up as well but is understood to be bound for the United States again this summer.

Among the brand new faces on the panel are Glen duo Cathal Mulholland and Alex Doherty, the latter having had a brilliant club championship up front for the beaten county finalists.

Bellaghy’s Cassidy duo Declan - a versatile player who captained St Mary’s Magherafelt to their first ever MacRory Cup title - and forward Paul are joined by Swatragh twins Lorcan and Oisin McWilliams, as well as Oran Amstrong (Claudy), Eoghan Duffy (Foreglen, whose brother Oisin previously played for the county) and Dara Rafferty (Drumsurn), all of whom had strong summers in the intermediate ranks.

They will also welcome back Niall Loughlin, who had looked like a serious scoring forward a few years ago before heading to Australia.

For Monaghan, it’s back to the future, but so far reports of Seamus McEnaney’s second coming have been positive.

His on-pitch coach Conor Laverty has been trying to juggle his own preparations for an All-Ireland club semi-final with Kilcoo, as well as coaching the club’s minors to an Ulster semi-final in which they were beaten on St Stephen’s Day, and yet has had his toe dipped in Cloghan.

Peter Donnelly, having made the move from Tyrone, has had a hands-on role as well as they look to inject some freshness into a Monaghan setup that doesn’t show a huge amount of personnel change.

They’ve handed the captaincy to Ryan Wylie, while Kieran Duffy – whose place in the team wasn’t always guaranteed under Malachy O’Rourke – made vice-captain.

One of the more interesting reintroductions from the playing point of view is that of Ballybay forward Christopher McGuinness, who hit a few crucial scores in his previous incarnation before taking a few years out.

Clontibret duo Michael P O’Dowd and Killian Lavelle are called up after impressive roles in helping their club to the county title, although Lavelle’s injury sustained in their Ulster club semi-final loss to Glenties is expected to keep him out for the early part of the National League at least.

Scotstown’s Ryan O’Toole has been one of the best defenders in Monaghan club football of recent years and has been given a chance to impress.

‘Banty’ has also looked down the grades to intermediate champions Magheracloone, whose number one David Kirk will provide goalkeeping competition for Rory Beggan, and junior kings Blackhill, with Philip Donnelly stepping into the squad.

His performances up front were key to Blackhill winning the Ulster junior title, while Magheracloone are also preparing for an All-Ireland intermediate semi-final, meaning neither will be available to the county just yet.

One significant loss, however, is that of Stephen O’Hanlon. He appeared out of nowhere this time last year to spring from the bench and score the goal that sealed a famous National League win over Dublin.

He started the championship tie with Cavan in summer but found chances fairly scarce on the whole last year, and it’s understood that he’s opted out to go back and focus on his basketball career.

Owen Duffy announced his retirement a few weeks back, while of last year’s championship panel, Paudie McKenna and Thomas Kerr are not in McEnaney’s plans.

Monaghan’s is a stronger McKenna Cup panel given their relative lack of absentees. They are likely to look at a Derry side down so many men as a good chance to give a proper run to a lot of fringe men.

It will give Rory Gallagher a first proper look at what’s in the youth he has at his disposal. They won’t have the depth to match Banty’s bench, and so the first spoils of the year are likely to be Monaghan’s.