DERRY hope to have Mark Lynch, Dermot McBride, Liam McGoldrick and perhaps Declan Mullan available for Sunday’s meeting with Meath.
In a pivotal game, victory would push the Damian Barton’s Oak Leaf side back into promotion contention, while defeat could leave them stuck in the relegation mire with only a game against Ulster rivals Armagh to come.
Skipper Chrissy McKaigue says Derry are desperate to get their best players out on the field as their Ulster Championship quarter-final meeting with Tyrone comes into view.
“It’s a strange kind of game because we can still get promoted and we can still get relegated,” he said as he looked ahead to Sunday’s clash with the Royal county.
“We want to get players back on the track again - we’ve had an unbelievable spell of injuries there, that’s the biggest thing. We’re hopeful we’ll get a few boys back for the weekend and a stronger squad out because it’s getting to that stage now where the Championship is on the horizon.”
Derry beat Fermanagh and Cavan in their opening League fixtures before coming out on the wrong side of defeats against Galway and Tyrone. They ended their losing streak with a bizarre draw last time out against Laois at O’Moore Park. The game finished in a 1-22 to 5-10 draw and McKaigue described it as “a shootout”.
“We need to get back onto the winning track again,” he said.
“We started the league quite well and then we put in a couple of poor performances and maybe the unavailability of key personnel didn’t help things. The reality is that we have home advantage against Meath who will be formidable opposition, but I still think if we get everybody back out it’ll be great preparation for the Tyrone game (May 22) because, at the end of the day, Championship is what you’re really judged on.”
The Slaughtneil clubman says Derry need to tighten up their defence if they are to make real progress this year. In five League games they have conceded a total of 6-76 - overall, that’s an average of around 19 points per game. In the last three fixtures they have shipped an average of over 22 points per game.
“There was some very good football played in Laois by both sides but I don’t think either side will be very with their defensive gameplans,” he said.
“It’s very much in the back of our minds that we need to concede a lot less because at the minute, when you’re conceding that much and playing that brand of football, it makes it like a game of Russian Roulette and you’re not going to win anything playing that way.
“You want to win every game you play but the biggest thing for us is our full squad out so they can compete for positions on the Championship team. Unless you have competition within the squad fighting for places you’re really not going to achieve anything – the result this weekend is massively important but more so is getting everybody fit again.
“The barometer of our year will be on May 22 against Tyrone.”
