Football

Derry can leave Kildare with nowhere to go after Newbridge clash

Derry's Padraig Cassidy is brought down close to goal by Eoin Doyle of Kildare during the 2018 All-Ireland SFC round 1 qualifier at Owenbeg. Picture: Margaret McLaughlin
Derry's Padraig Cassidy is brought down close to goal by Eoin Doyle of Kildare during the 2018 All-Ireland SFC round 1 qualifier at Owenbeg. Picture: Margaret McLaughlin Derry's Padraig Cassidy is brought down close to goal by Eoin Doyle of Kildare during the 2018 All-Ireland SFC round 1 qualifier at Owenbeg. Picture: Margaret McLaughlin

Allianz Football League Division Two, round four: Kildare v Derry (Newbridge, 2pm on Sunday)

TOP four in the country last year, Derry have to make themselves top eight first this season.

That's not a regression, or a scaling down of ambition, far from it.

Oak Leaf boss Rory Gallagher knows that, in order to have serious ambitions of winning a senior All-Ireland his charges have to be dining at the top table.

Asked recently if he wanted to replicate their achievements of 2022, he instantly responded in the negative – explaining that they had missed out on promotion from Division Two last year.

There's the important target of securing a place in the Sam Maguire Cup by sealing promotion back to Division One. Without doing that, Derry might then need to repeat one feat from last year, reaching the Ulster SFC Final.

They'll be favoured to do that anyway, first by getting past Fermanagh, even away from home, and then by beating Tyrone or Monaghan, both of whom they saw off in last year's provincial championship.

Derry are looking good for promotion this time around, but Gallagher won't rest until the job is done.

From an outside perspective they were hard done by last year, with some very controversial refereeing decisions in an ultimately costly draw away to Roscommon, who went up instead.

Gallagher, though, is not interested in hard luck stories.

His simple, stark assessment: "We weren't good enough to go up."

Derry's only losses last year both came against Galway. An 11-point thumping in round six at Owenbeg then a narrower – but more painful – defeat in the All-Ireland semi-final.

The Oak Leafers are already an excellent side, including current Allstars Chrissy McKaigue and Conor Glass, while Brendan Rogers, Conor McCluskey, Gareth McKinless, Shane McGuigan, and Ethan Doherty all received nominations.

However, regular matches against top level opponents will only improve them, so before thinking about bigger prizes, first they'll focus on the League, and on Kildare.

Despite going down the homegrown route under the management of former playing heroes Glenn Ryan, Johnny Doyle, Anthony Rainbow, Dermot Earley Jr, and Brian Lacey, the Lilywhites have been better on their travels this season.

They were unlucky to lose by a point against Dublin in Croke Park, then won by a point away to Clare last time out, 0-16 to 0-15.

However, they suffered a home humiliation by Cork in-between, thrashed by 2-14 to 0-7.

Another loss tomorrow would effectively end their hopes of a rapid return to Division One, with Derry, the Dubs, and probably Cork and Meath ahead of them in the race for promotion.

Derry won the last league meeting, edging to a one-point victory in this division in 2017 at Celtic Park, 1-18 to 1-17; but the Lilywhites then won well at Owenbeg in the 2018 All-Ireland qualifiers.

The visitors are favoured to come out on top unless Kildare can end their goal drought, which will be difficult against a Derry team which defends well both individually and collectively.

Kildare did at least show serious spirit last time out. Seemingly heading for another heavy defeat after the rout by the Rebels, instead they overturned a seven-point deficit, including coming from six points down with only 14 men after forward Ben McCormack was shown a second yellow card in the 50th minute.

Substitute Neil and Daniel Flynn scored six points between them, with the former converting a 75th minute free to win it in Ennis.

Three Kevins – Flynn, O'Callaghan, and Feely – provide strength in the middle third – but at least one of those Flynns will have to continue their scoring form to augment Jimmy Hyland as Darragh Kirwan failed to convert two great goal chances.

Down in Newbridge, Derry may leave Kildare with nowhere to go in terms of league progress.