WHEN I watched Derry destroy Cork in round three of Division Two, I joked to the Oak Leaf scribes that I was going to 'do a reverse Paddy Heaney', i.e. talk up Derry's chances of winning Ulster and even the All-Ireland.
The boul' Maghera man used to cut and paste variations on that column early every spring, piling the pressure on Tyrone.
Derry did genuinely impress me that day; as poor as the Rebels were, the hosts were excellent at Owenbeg.
Rory Gallagher's men really should have gone on to secure promotion to Division One. In truth, they earned it, but were robbed by some very dubious decisions late on in a costly draw away against Roscommon, then were hammered at home by Galway, results which allowed those two Connacht sides to clinch the promotion places.
The upside of staying down for Derry was that they still came into Healy Park under the radar.
Yet although I knew Derry were capable of causing a shock, I didn't truly expect them to do so.
The Ulster Championship needed that upset, though, after the snooze-fests which preceded it. Only Tyrone labouring past Fermanagh in the preliminary round was any sort of contest.
Otherwise, Cavan cruised past Antrim, even in Corrigan Park; Donegal dismissed Armagh rather nonchalantly; and Monaghan made light of Down, as anticipated.
The Red Hands should have had their dukes up for the visit from Derry, with plenty of pre-match talk of 2006 and the visitors' ambush of the All-Ireland champions in Omagh on that occasion.
Instead, Derry destroyed them, then outplayed Monaghan, before edging past Donegal in Sunday's intensely hard-fought final.
That's the three dominant counties over the past decade in Ulster disposed of.
Derry have often reminded me of Donegal in the first decade of this millennium: plenty of talent, far too little commitment to the county cause.
Jim McGuinness was the man to transform Tir Chonaill; his former assistant Rory Gallagher has done likewise with the Oak Leafers.
The Belleek man has set the standards, demanded total commitment. The omission of the hugely talented Ciaran McFaul sent out a clear signal.
Who was the last player put off a Derry panel rather than walking away himself?
The improvement under Gallagher cannot be under-estimated. Derry lost by 11 points to Tyrone in both the 2016 and 2017 Ulsters.
When my colleague Andy Watters asked me when Derry were in Division Four, I guessed 2017, Googled to check - and then started searching earlier in the decade.
The correct answer was, amazingly, astonishingly, 2019!
Sure, Derry shouldn't have dropped down so low, ensuring that the only way was up - but few would have foreseen just how far, and how quickly, they have risen.
After all the years of 'club v county' being blamed for Derry's demise, the combination of club and county successes has fed through to this current team.
Three-time Ulster Club winners Slaughtneil (2014, 2016, 2017) provide captain Chrissy McKaigue, full-back/ footballer extraordinaire Brendan Rogers, and full-forward Shane McGuigan.
Watty Graham's, Glen, won three consecutive Ulster U21 tournaments at Creggan, from 2015 to 2017. Conor Glass was their stand-out player and he was also part of the 2015 Ulster Minor Champions, along with Slaughtneil's Shane McGuigan, and Shea Downey of Lavey.
Under the guidance of Damian McErlain, Derry went on to win another provincial Minor title in 2017, and during that time he also worked with defenders Conor McCluskey, Conor Doherty, and Padraig McGrogan, as well as Odhran Lynch as sub goalkeeper, among others.
Another Ulster Minor followed in 2020, and Derry - without their star player Ryan McNicholl due to injury - pushed Tyrone all the way on Sunday past. Next year's Minor crop is reportedly even better.
The conveyor belt of talent is clearly rolling again.
One unusual aspect on Sunday was the size of the Derry support. The jokey jibes used to be made that the Derry Supporters Club held its AGM in a 'phone box, and travelled to games on the team bus.
At times the numbers of supporters were very low, but it was genuinely great to see so many Derry fans delighted on Sunday evening, both the long-suffering veterans and the thrilled first-timers.
While Armagh and Tyrone face off this weekend, and Monaghan face a daunting trip to Mayo, Derry can, completely deservedly, prepare for the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Dublin are still much superior, Kerry better too, but the Oak Leaf is flying higher than it has done for at least 15 years.
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NO ONE DIED…
There's a brilliant sketch from 'The Day Today' where a swimming pool attendant repeatedly intones that phrase, reeling off years where 'no one died'; apart from the year when someone did…
It's no laughing matter that it came back to mind after Saturday's shambolic lack of organisation around the Champions League Final.
The defeat was, obviously, disappointing for Liverpool supporters but I was genuinely just glad that 'no one died' amid the chaos and potential for crush situations.
That's setting a shamefully low bar for expectations around one of the major occasions in the world sporting calendar.
The lazy tropes about 'the English disease' of hooliganism, or 'them Scousers again' bear no scrutiny.
There were no such problems in Kyiv in 2018, when Liverpool also met Real Madrid, nor the next year, in the Spanish capital, when Liverpool faced another English club, Tottenham Hotspur.
The problems always come down to the pot luck of the local organisers.
I was in Istanbul in 2005, then Athens in 2007. The fans were an after-thought on both occasions, treated like cattle at best, criminals at worst.
Supporters continue to be exploited and mistreated, as fans of both Liverpool and Real Madrid were at the weekend.
Sure, some supporters try to gain entry using fake tickets, but nowhere near the numbers being scandalously claimed by the French authorities. Almost all the trouble was caused by Parisian locals.
The disgraceful labelling by Uefa and the French authorities is motivated by self-protection, a refusal to take responsibility, and anti-English sentiments.
At least with mobile phone videos, the lies can be refuted immediately.
As for the football itself, Hala Madrid. They took their chances - Liverpool didn't. 'Chances' is what I mean: most football fans would acknowledge that Benzema's first half effort should have counted. Goalkeeper Courtois was superb, Casemiro and Alaba too, Modric an ageless genius.
Liverpool played very well for the first 40 minutes but Real Madrid's name was on the trophy before the engraving even began, such is their incredible self-belief.
Unfortunately, fans have no such confidence that next year's final, back in Istanbul, will be much better of an experience off the pitch, whatever the result on it.
