Sport

Rory Gallagher has given the Oak Leafers a kick up the Derry air

Derry dominated Cork at Owenbeg, one of four wins this season to put the Oak Leafers top of Division Two.<br /> Picture Margaret McLaughlin
Derry dominated Cork at Owenbeg, one of four wins this season to put the Oak Leafers top of Division Two.
Picture Margaret McLaughlin
Derry dominated Cork at Owenbeg, one of four wins this season to put the Oak Leafers top of Division Two.
Picture Margaret McLaughlin

DERRY are heading back into top table football should they get a positive result against Roscommon next time out.

The stakes are huge and the position they find themselves in is testament to what Rory Gallagher has done since taking over.

Sitting in Division Four, bereft of any hope, this was rock bottom.

The job Gallagher has done, whether you like his playing style or not, is remarkable.

Gallagher has been involved with Donegal, Fermanagh and now Derry and in each of these cases the positives outweigh any negatives and his sole ability to get results cannot be questioned, can it?

That is one of the reasons why the Derry county board ignored calls for an internal appointment and opted to give Rory the job.

Successive promotions and their win against Clare last day out was convincing.

Clare have come on leaps and bounds and I remember going there in 2011 in an All-Ireland qualifier and just about surviving, lucky to scrape a one-point win.

The Banner county are a better team now, so going there and winning by nine points makes it even more impressive.

Derry have been able to field a settled line-up and when you are on a run such as the one they are on, there is a confidence and familiarity that comes from having the same players fighting it out week in week out.

Roscommon were worthy 11-point winners over Down and of all the teams the Mournemen have played in the campaign, the Rossies were the most physical and indeed slickest thus far. So Derry will be thoroughly tested in Dr Hyde Park on Sunday week.

The longer term ambitions have to be akin to Monaghan, with Derry competing for a sustained period of time in Division One.

The Oak Leaf have a great tradition and although there is only the one All-Ireland title to their name, the players the county have produced, from Seán Marty Lockhart to Mark Lynch, since that 1993 Sam Maguire triumph have been some of the best to have played the game.

Derry always had a flair to their game and my experiences against them were always positive.

You always felt that they went out to win games via their natural predisposition to attack.

You always felt that Owenbeg was priority number one though in the county for the best part of a decade and the construction of a centre of excellence will certainly bear fruit in the long term.

On the playing field side of things, Conor Glass's return has strengthened the squad.

If any man with AFL ambitions such as Glass decides to come home and focus on county aspirations, you would have to believe that there is something there.

Allied to Benny Heron, Shane McGuigan, Chrissy McKaigue, Brendan Rogers, and Gareth McKinless, Derry can become a match for anyone.

Indeed within Ulster you now have Tyrone, Armagh, Monaghan, Donegal and Derry who could arguably all operate in Division One in the same season.

All pointers would lead you to believe that the current powerbase of football lies within our own province of Ulster.

It wasn't long ago that we were talking of Dublin dominating the championship for the coming decade, however now they appear to be on the brink of relegation from Division One.

Kerry, Mayo and Dublin will always be there or thereabouts every year, but it is Dublin who will worry most.

The defeat to Kildare in Newbridge is a bitter pill to swallow, not only for their National League status, but it has been unthinkable since 2011 that any county even dare to think of beating the Dubs.

Muhammad Ali used to say that if any fighter even dared to dream of beating him, they had better wake up and apologise.

Dublin were once Ali in his prime, almost unbeatable.

Now they resemble Ali at the end of his career, almost punch-drunk, knowing what they want to do, just unable to do it.

With no league points and a -20 scoring difference, something will need to change and fast.

There are only so many excuses you can offer up and eventually player unavailability in itself becomes an indictment of the manager's lack of faith in the new men.

Should Dublin fail to secure the Leinster Championship, it is then that the natives will become restless.

Monaghan and Tyrone both need wins but the problem lies in Kildare's competitiveness, with the Lilywhites ahead of both Ulster counties in the Division One table.

Given how competitive the competition has become, you would have to feel that the upcoming championship could possibly be the most open in years.

AS for the Ulster Championship, it is a minefield, with arguably any one of five counties able to lay claim to winning the Anglo-Celt Cup.

If this doesn't excite you as a fan of one of these counties, I am afraid that you are a lost cause.

We are almost at the start of a club league campaign commencing in many counties and this normally coincides with the start of April.

Up and down Ulster, clubs will be running the hard yards, trying to secure time on wet and heavy sod.

The weather hasn't been kind in these last few weeks with storm after storm causing carnage with challenge games and outdoor training session preparations.

It is noticeable that in recent years clubs have started to invest heavily in 3G and 4G surfaces as an adjunct to main playing pitches.

These facilities provide fantastic surfaces for all year round training and rather than clubs downing tools in hibernation mode, underage and adult players can hone their skills even in the depths of winter.

Strangely the winter months past were very mild so arguably those synthetic fields are of more value now at the start of spring, which is quite ironic really.

My own club Saval are currently looking at such an investment which will be a huge addition to what we can do when the hour turns against annually.

Funding is always front and centre of any club's raison d'etre and new ways are always being found to sustain club costs and spend.

Increasingly club competitions and ticket sellers have been dispatched throughout Ulster to sell tickets and while this is admirable, it is not something I am overly comfortable with as a GAA member.

I would rather donate to my own club rather than ask another fellow Gael to fund something they get no direct use from.

I always find it near impossible to say no to any ticket-seller.

At a time when all clubs will feel the squeeze over the short term, with inflation over five per cent, stagnant wages, and the cost of energy sky-rocketing, households are just about getting by.

With a war raging to the east of Europe, we can be thankful for our lot and having come out of Covid, we have a spring and summer of competitive football to look forward to.

Small mercies in an otherwise uncertain time.

Thank God for the GAA and especially our local GAA club.