by Michael McMullan
Damian McErlain has an Ulster minor medal as a player and two years ago steered the 2015 Oak Leaf crop to glory at a sun-baked Clones. Last year Derry were back in the decider, under the July sun, but fell short to Donegal.
Both years Derry were dozed off the national stage by the formidable Kerry juggernaut, but speaking ahead of Sunday’s opener with Tyrone, McErlain is under no illusions - his new look side are back at square one.
From the starting team in last year’s win over Tyrone only Paddy Quigg, Oisin McWilliams, Conor McCluskey, Simon McErlain and captain Padraig McGrogan remain. Ballinascreen defender Aaron Bradley is still underage, but injury forced him out of this season’s panel.
Swatragh’s Lorcan McWilliams, twin brother of Oisin, was an impact substitute last year but just returned to training last week and faces a race against time to be ready for Sunday’s showdown at Celtic Park. Tiernan McHugh’s recovery from a hamstring injury may rule him out.
One player definitely out of the picture is wing-back Odhran Quinn, with a broken hand. It will force at least one change from their Ulster league final side when McErlain and his management team sit down to select their side.
Ballinasceen’s Martin Bradley missed the defeat to Tyrone in the league and could be in line for a recall in a defensive or midfield role.
Limavady’s Orán Hartin was last year’s reserve goalkeeper and was called upon to replace the black carded Ben McKinless in the epic extra-time win over Armagh in last season’s Ulster semi-final. He will face stiff competition from St Mary’s Magherafelt’s MacRory winning goalkeeper Odhran Lynch for the spot between the posts.
In defence Conor McCluskey is one of the highest rated defenders around and is coming back to full fitness and alongside the versatile Padraig McGrogan will provide Derry’s defensive spine. Either McCluskey or Oran McGill are the likely men to pick up Tyrone ace PT Cunningham.
Pocket-sized defender Sean McKeever had a battle with Tyrone’s Darragh Canavan in the league meeting and the pair are likely to cross paths again.
In attack, Derry will be looking to Richie Mullan’s playmaking ability alongside Paddy Quigg to open the Tyrone defence. Like last year, Red Hands’ Cahir Goodwin is expected to drop back and cover with Jude Campbell as the designated sweeper - unless Tyrone decide to go with a different approach on Sunday.
Mark McGrogan, Alex Doherty and Ben McCarron will push for inclusion in Derry’s inside line. Doherty has set the world alight at the underage ranks but may be held in reserve to capitalise on any gaps that appear when the game opens up. A fully-fit Lorcan McWilliams would be well up the pecking order as McErlain looks to piece his puzzle together.
Once again, former Tyrone player Paul Devlin is back in charge of the Red Hands, with Iggy Gallagher by his side. Only Goodwin, Conall Grimes and the influential Peter Óg McCartan are back from last year’s team, a game Derry won easily with an entertaining brand of football.
The teams met in the league section this year down in Ballinderry, with Ben McCarron scoring a late equalising point.
THIRD MEETING
Ahead of the third meeting of the season, Damian McErlain is fine tuning the final preparations: “We have taken this match really, really serious and obviously we are up against the current league champions Tyrone.
“We have played them twice and haven’t beat them yet, so they are formidable opponents – as Tyrone always are and we are trying to get everything right for Celtic Park.”
Tyrone have contested 12 of the last 20 Ulster minor finals, winning nine of them on the way to five All-Ireland titles, the last of which came in 2010. Since Tyrone’s strategic investment and drive in underage, other counties have followed their example.
Derry are starting to get there as McErlain explains: “Historically in 1980s and 1990s, Derry had a strong minor tradition and the cycle is coming around again. The clubs have done an awful lot of work and are starting to supply players into the system and the county has got more organised from a development squad point of view.
“It is good to see us the last couple of years, back in Ulster Finals. At this point we are back to square one in 2017 and it will remain to be seen on the 28th (May) just exactly where we are.”
The last two seasons brought defeats to the eventual All-Ireland champions Kerry. Sunday brings a different set of challenges, but McErlain has learned from his battles with the Kingdom.
“We only have four of five from the team that played in Croke Park last year. There is no question that playing against the best teams lifts your standards and lifts your expectations as to where you want to take your game.
“The standard can always be higher, the emphasis on skills, kick-passing – all the things we have been preaching from the first time we entered the doors of Owenbeg and have worked on with all our teams,” added McErlain.
The execution of the skills can never be good enough and Sunday will be no different. Not only were Kerry’s players the complete footballer but the level of athleticism struck McErlain. Derry have ‘upped the ante’, as McErlain revealed
SCHOOLING
Now in his third term as manager, Sunday will be the Magherafelt man’s 10th game in charge of the Oakleafers. He cut his teeth with club youth teams and county development squads, but as a player he has a bank of experience to draw on.
“I came from the background of going to St Pius (Magherafelt) where basic skills were a massive thing – Brian McIver, Brendan Convery and Philip Kerr were there. Then I moved to St Pat’s Maghera and it was the exact same thing.
“The kicking, the sharpness and your first touch always being right – the desire to play for the school and the jersey you were playing for. Then at club, growing up with Newbridge, we played very much the traditional way – moving the ball into the full-forward line early, coming off the shoulder.”
Described by McErlain, the game he was exposed to while growing up is the ‘idealistic way’ of playing football. Things have moved on. Skill levels have increased, but Owenbeg is the environment for honing them. Taking the club player and adding value.
It’s about composure on the ball. Running techniques and ability to cover the ground is one thing but a poor touch and skills ‘really, really gets exposed’ at this level.
“We try and hone that here all the time. There is still the occasional one-sided player but you are trying to develop weaknesses. We do kick-passing every night at training - we actually did our first fist-passing drill tonight in three years – so that’s the part of psychology we take to it.”
Sitting comfortably in Owenbeg’s video room, McErlain is measured. The calmness that saturates through the camp is the hallmark of the modern manager.
For the third year in succession, Derry have a 12noon start at home and it brings a familiarity to the routine.
With little over a week to go until the game, there are still issues that need ironed out. The consensus is Derry have more to improve on since the league final, with Tyrone operating close to their full deck.
What is a full deck? McErlain doesn’t worry about personnel but agrees he needs more from his team. Two meagre points in the second-half wouldn’t win much when the battle is evenly poised
“You are hoping there is more in the tank, as we were very flat in the second-half. Tyrone did well, picked off their scores, looked a strong side, have two dangerous forwards up front and they might have been missing a few that day.
“They are a difficult side to play against, they have that winning streak and they are going to be a seriously tough opponent.”
CHALK AND CHEESE
League and championship. Two different animals. Derry lost a league final (Donegal 2015) and a shield final (Antrim 2016) in the past two campaigns. It didn’t deter them from delivering when it mattered most.
“Yeah, we have battled through big ties (last two years), but that is a different squad. Last year’s squad struggled throughout the league – yet on championship day they absolutely delivered and were a kick of a ball away from an Ulster title. That shows you the difference between the league and the championship.”
A win in the first round allows a team to evolve but with minors, every year it is a new set of building blocks and about unravelling a new set of instructions. Team plays cannot be taught from a book, it comes from the training field.
McErlain agrees: “You only get six weeks of uninterrupted preparation and it’s about how best you can put whatever talent you have, get them to play together and perform on the day. You have seen minor teams, multi-talented but not deliver on the day because they didn’t play as a team.
“It’s about getting the team ethic into the whole thing. We have managed that in the last couple of years. This year is a big, big start for us, because Tyrone are the league champions, because you can’t really have a tougher draw. We have got to get it right on the day, or there’ll be no summer.”
Nine championship games later and with the core of the management retained, does it bring a confidence? Or does it bring a higher level of expectation? An expectation founded by the yellow bus snaking around the outer environs of Clones on Ulster Final day. With Derry back mixing with the big boys again.
“You are maybe more experienced and cool about what all preparation is needed,” admits McErlain. “But when you are presented with the opposition in front of you, you see all their players and all the rest - it soon gets rid of all that.
“And you start to prepare diligently and the pressure is always there - if there is no pressure that means you are complacent and that can’t ever be the case in a championship match. Thankfully I have never come across that feeling about being relaxed just yet.”
With the GAA’s ‘shuffling of the furniture’ and the new U17 structure on its way in, it spells the end for the minor championship. This is the last.
Tyrone won the last ever Ulster League. Derry will be hoping their rivals don’t win the last ever championship. It will be tight, but home advantage to see Derry over the first hurdle.
VERDICT: Derry
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