Allianz Hurling League Division 2B: Donegal v Derry (Sunday, Letterkenny, 2pm)
SOMETHING has to give on Sunday when Derry and Donegal lock horns at O’Donnell Park.
Both teams have a 100 per cent record from their three games as the League heads towards the business end.
Before a ball was struck, the Oak Leafers joint manager Dominic McKinley eyed a top three place to keep them in the promotion mix.
Now, free from any relegation mire, his outlook has changed.
“We want to finish top of the table and that’s why the Donegal game is so important,” he said.
The group winner will go straight into the promotion final against the winners of a semi-final which will consist of the teams finishing in the second and third berths.
McKinley, who manages the team with fellow Antrim man Cormac Donnelly, puts Derry’s fruitful season down the drive from clubs and increased numbers.
They didn’t have enough players to full out the 11 available places on the bench for last year’s Christy Ring Cup final, with players dropping off the panel as the weeks went by.
Before 2022 season began, McKinley and Donnelly contacted all club managers asking for players to put their shoulder to the Derry hurling cause.
“We sat them down and told them if they wanted to be hurlers they should be selfish and use the county to get as many games as you can,” McKinley points out.
“At the end of the day, it’s not rocket science, if they can all unite and get out training it is going to bring their hurling on.”
After edging past Sligo on the opening game, they hammered their bogey team Wicklow and followed it up by a comfortable win over Mayo.
It was a game they began with former skipper Sean Cassidy and Gerald Bradley, with Tiarnán McHugh and Richie Mullan both forced off with injury.
“We have a strong panel this year and have plenty of options. If we get an injury, we are not moving players around to plug gaps,” said McKinley.
Bradley is ’70 per cent’ fit and could come into the reckoning this weekend, but McKinley points also the risk factor with games coming ‘thick and fast’ in coming weeks.
Cassidy’s ongoing groin problem requires a scan and his participation this season could be in jeopardy.
“Richie (Mullan) has a very had hamstring injury and is going to be out for four weeks and then you have the rehab after that,” McKinley points out.
He is more hopeful that Tiarnán McHugh will be back withing the next few weeks.
“Fintan Bradley has come back in and he is a big strong man that can play up there and can give us something, McKinley added.
“He has plenty to offer at this level.
Mark Craig has made a return from injury and has been a regular full-back, with Paddy Kelly also making a return to the panel after been a central figure for Kevin Lynch’s in the last two county finals.
“Paddy asked us if he could get involved again. He is back a few weeks, so it’s a matter of getting back up to speed,” McKinley points out.
“There is a great buzz around the panel and I think Banagher’s run (to the Ulster intermediate title) has helped it on and I think it will make other clubs take note.”
