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Brendan Rogers happy to play anywhere if it helps Derry cause

Derry's Brendan Rogers in action against Down during last year's Ulster Championship 
Derry's Brendan Rogers in action against Down during last year's Ulster Championship  Derry's Brendan Rogers in action against Down during last year's Ulster Championship 

Brendan Rogers is hoping some fancy footwork will see the Oak Leafers spring the first huge upset of an intriguing Championship summer. Neil Loughran writes...

"IF THERE’S maybe two people out of line, it’s incredibly noticeable. That’s what cost us. When you make mistakes at that level, you don’t win.”

The world of Irish dancing can be a tough battleground. The tiniest error, a wrong movement, no matter how minute, can upset the whole equilibrium of a performance and ultimately prove the difference between success and failure.

For Brendan Rogers, it is a scenario he is all too familiar with. As he reflects on his team’s performances with the Allen School of Dance at the World Championships in Killarney back in March, the irony of his words is not lost on the twinkle-toed Derry and Slaughtneil star.

The margin for error in a highly-competitive Division Two proved to be every bit as small as when Rogers stood before a full house at the Irish National Event Centre down in the Kingdom. All too often during a league campaign that promised so much before a stumbling finish eventually got them across the line to safety, individual errors cost Derry.

Against Tyrone at Healy Park on March 5, the contrast between the two counties was stark. After flying out of the blocks, the Oak Leaf challenge fizzled out by the quarter-hour mark. The Red Hands had nine points to spare in the end but, considering they kicked 14 wides, it could have been much worse for their neighbours.

That was the fourth meeting between the counties since a first O Fiaich Cup encounter in December was followed by two games in the Dr McKenna Cup - including the final - before the league showdown. The first three games were closely-contested, but the nature of that defeat in Omagh will have weighed heavily on the minds of the Derry support as their fifth meeting with Mickey Harte’s men - and by the far the most important - looms on May 22.

Rogers, though, is not one for living in the past and insists he will carry no mental scars into next week’s Ulster Championship clash at Celtic Park: “I don’t think we’d be scared of Tyrone,” said the 22-year-old.

“You don’t want to go out and not challenge them. Tyrone are a team that will definitely challenge you. Alright, we got beat, but we probably should’ve won a couple of those games as well, in the O Fiaich Cup and the McKenna Cup.

“We had a bad 10 minutes in the league where we gave away rash ball. It’s more our own mistakes that have killed us, so that is something to work on. We just made costly mistakes, schoolboy errors like fist-passing wrong and that killed our moves and set up Tyrone’s counter-attacks.

"We just need to adapt a bit better when we’re playing them. I know people don’t really have that much confidence in us at the minute but, really, it’s not about what they think, it’s about what the players think.”

Rogers could be forgiven for having plenty of fire in the belly by the time the two collide again. He was left needing 14 stitches to a facial injury after being sent sprawling to the floor by Tiernan McCann during a heated McKenna Cup decider but, nearly five months on, Rogers isn’t in the mood to reopen old wounds.

“If I’m being honest, I don’t have many thoughts on it,” he said.

“The video’s hard to see and I’d rather not listen to what the papers have to say about it. I’d personally like to keep what I think to myself. I don’t want it to inhibit any performance of mine. I don’t want to use taking a slap as an excuse to play bad, so I’ll just brush it aside and get on with it. Everybody takes knocks in sport, I got one - what odds? I’ll just have to suck it up and get on with it.”

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Despite suffering what Damian Barton described as a “horrific” injury, Rogers was back in action within weeks and, during the league, his dancing feet were stationed here, there and everywhere as the Derry boss attempted to pin down his best 15.

Full-back, across the half-back line and at midfield, Rogers is the kind of player any manager would want in his panel - and is clearly someone Barton sees as an integral part of Derry’s future. The pair first crossed paths when Barton was in charge of Slaughtneil.

In the club’s minors, a tall, gangly youngster caught his eye: “He’d always be telling me to stretch my legs - you have long legs, use them,” laughs the Queen’s University student.

Barton liked what he saw and gave Rogers his first taste of reserve football - and he hasn’t looked back since. Rogers eventually forced his way into the seniors and was a key component of the Slaughtneil side who conquered Ulster in December 2014 and came so close to All-Ireland club glory four months later.

And no matter where he lines out for Derry, Rogers is just happy to be wearing county colours: “If Damian thinks the best place for me is midfield, I’ll play midfielder. I’m comfortable enough to play either, as long as I’m getting on and playing football," he said. 

“You need to be a bit more versatile in Gaelic football now. You can’t just say ‘that’s my position’. I know there are people who believe that and I enjoy playing as a defender but, as long as I’m getting my place, I can contribute.

“I have enjoyed working with Damian. He has that real love for the team attitude, he would always be a man for the team. If somebody pulls your player, he tries to back him up - you have to respect that.”

From one coach to another, Rogers’ Irish dancing mentor Aileen McConnell will also be a keen observer on May 22. But unlike in Killarney, the Tyrone woman might just be hoping her pupil comes out on the losing side.

“She would follow a brave bit of football, so she knows the craic,” says Rogers with a smile.

With four wins already under their belt and another one expected, the pressure is all on Tyrone. But it is the Red Hands who are coming into the lion’s den - and the Oak Leafs will be quietly confident of springing the first huge upset of the Championship summer. Just so long as no-one steps out of line.

STRENGTHS


One of Derry’s great strengths at the moment is they haven’t properly clicked in three months.

There is an array of attacking talent in their ranks and, as Tyrone will well know from their early season meetings, if Derry can get the ball in and make it stick, there are goals in this Oak Leaf team. They finished the league as second-top scorers in Division Two.

If they can get Dermot McBride fit, they possess arguably the best man-marker in Ulster. From their full-back line to the half-forward line, there is athleticism and pace sprinkled through the side, with Danny Heavron revelling as a high-scoring free man, timing his attacking runs to perfection.

Mark Lynch has had an injuryravaged year and is yet to display his best form, but retains the ability to win games almost single-handedly. Having him, James Kielt, Emmett Bradley, Niall Holly and Ryan Bell with the ability to kick scores from long-range could come in particularly useful against a Tyrone side who are sure to swamp their own goal in the tight surroundings of Celtic Park.

Youthful faces like Karl McKaigue, Liam McGoldrick, Rogers and Gareth McKinless will bring fearlessness.

WEAKNESSES


They may have finished the Division Two campaign as its second-highest scorers, but they also finished sixth in the table and really only avoided relegation because of Armagh’s lacing by Cavan.

To call their defensive shape questionable would be an understatement - of the 32 teams in the league, Derry conceded more than 30 of them. Only a Laois side with whom they played out a now-understandable 1-22 to 5-10 draw conceded more. They have tried to implement a more defensive shape in recent weeks, but it’s only served to take away from their attacking game.

Derry now find themselves sitting between two stools. In recent weeks, they’ve had a serious problem retaining their own kick-outs. With their midfield leaders of the last decade gone, Thomas Mallon finds himself looking up and trying to hit the wings.

The whole kick-out plan doesn’t appear particularly streamlined. And given the joy Tyrone have had in pushing up on it in the last three meetings, it is a particularly pressing concern. That lack of a go-to man in the middle when they are under pressure could tell this summer.