Mickey Harte returns to Celtic Park with Offaly

National Football League Division Two, Round Four

Derry v Offaly at Celtic Park, 6pm Saturday

FORMER Derry manager Mickey Harte is joint manager with Offaly so he will make the familiar trip to Celtic Park hoping to get his team off the mark.
They have conceded six goals in their last two games and seven in total having lost their game to Louth on the score of 1-21 to 0-19.
Kildare beat them by 3-17 to 0-17 and Cork in round three by 3-15 to 0-19.
This indicates that their problems lie in defence. They have yet to sore a goal despite having good marksmen like Keith O’Neill, Harry Plunkett and Cormac Egan.
Derry have not played the Faithful County men for six years but all past meetings have generally gone in Derry’s favour.
They will be strongly fancied to win this one for thee in a row.
It is not known if Derry are appealing the Conor Glass red card but should the captain be missing they have plenty of cover with Paul Cassidy - who has scored four goals in five games this year - dropping back to partner Brendan Rogers with Matthew Downey coming into the forward line.
Jack Doherty, who often plays midfield for his club Glen, would be another option.
The quick turnover of games can lead to injuries, particularly with grounds all over the country being soggy.
Derry still have not had the services of Dan Higgins nor his Magherafelt team mate Eoin McEvoy so far in the campaign.
Higgins suffered a knee injury playing for Queen’s University in the Sigerson Cup and McEvoy is resting with knee problems but he is likely to see some league action.
Another unfortunate Magherafelt player is Odhran Lynch who had been the regular goalkeeper until last year but he has undergone surgery for a quad problem.
Ironically, the man now wearing the number one jersey is his club mate Shea McGuckin.
This panel of players looks stronger than that of the Rory Gallagher era where he made limited substitutions.
Apart from the aforementioned injured trio there are players like Niall O’Donnell, Conor McAteer, Sean Kearney, Jack Doherty, Shea Downey, Marty Bradley and Niall Toner who can add a lot from the bench.
Given that Offaly have conceded so heavily Derry are likely to put the pressure on early and get a firm hold on the game.
While they have conceded a lot they still have a very good full back in David Dempsey who will be trying to keep tabs on Shane McGuigan.
Their half back line consists of three players with the surname of Egan - Cormac, Diarmuid and Rory.
Derry probably learned a lesson in complacency when they lost to Meath in their opening game.
They were cruising early with a 1-5 to 0-3 lead when they lost their way and ended up losing by 0-19 to 1-13.
Mickey Harte knows whatever there is to know about football and he knows the Derry players that he led to the Division One title two years ago inside out so he will have a plan.
Ciaran Meenagh is no mug and he will probably have a better one
The other three games sees the meeting of the top two with Cork having home advantage and that should be enough for victory.
Tyrone travel to Louth managed by their former player Gavin Devlin and finally Cavan play Kildare and if they are to win they will need to be a lot better than they were against Tyrone last Sunday.
Provided that the meeting of the big two is not a draw Derry would move into second place with a win over Offaly.
Given the support that Derry have had in their last two games there will be a bumper crowd at Celtic Park on Saturday evening.