Derry to take step closer to promotion

DERRY will welcome Cork to Find Insurance Celtic Park on Sunday for a game that will have a big bearing on the promotion hopes of both teams.

It’s a 500 mile round trip for the players living in west Cork but teams who travel long usually have an overnight stay.

Cork have the biggest number of clubs in any county, an amazing 258 in all, but then they are by far the biggest on the island. Compare that to Derry’s 40 clubs and it looks unbalanced but, on the field, Derry have had plenty of good days against the ‘Rebel County’ men.

They beat Cork in the 1993 All Ireland final and also in the minor final two years previously. In more recent times they have met three times with Derry winning twice and the other was a draw.

In the current campaign Cork have started well and tended to build up decent leads but have had to hang on in the closing stages as teams like Cavan and Offaly closed the gap considerably leaving them hanging at the final whistle.

A win for Derry would put them top of the table in a game that looks very close. Cork have been scoring more freely than Derry but the Oak Leaf men have a better defensive record and will be fielding a much stronger team than played against Offaly.

Conor Glass will return from suspension and corner forward Lachlan Murray will also be in the frame. He missed out against Louth with a slight injury and the management decided not to risk him.

Cork suffered a possible set back when imposing midfielder Ian Maguire was red carded after being spotted by a linesman in a clash with Meath sub Adam O’Neill. Barring a successful appeal he will not be playing against Derry.

There have been questions asked about the Cork staying power once again. They were six points clear of the Royal County men going down the home straight but were out scored by 0-6 to 0-2 in the latter stages.

Derry are not short on staying power as they showed against Kildare the week prior to the Offaly victory. They came from five points down against a strong wind to win by three.

In the likely event of Ian Maguire being unavailable it would boost Derry’s chances of Conor Glass and Brendan Rogers taking control at midfield.

One area where they must be vigilant is in the full back line. Against Meath the big Cork front three of Chris Og Jones, Mark Cronin and Shane Sherlock scored 1-13 between them. Derry will be hoping to have Conor McCluskey back following a back injury that has kept him out of the last two games.

Derry are having very strong backing from the fans at present: even down in Kildare they out voiced the home support and most of the approximate 4,000 at the game on Saturday were supporting the home team.

Home advantage, a better defence and better staying power gives Derry the chance to go top of the table and a step closer to Division One football again.