Rory Gallagher will take no risks in today's McKenna Cup final

Rory Gallagher insists he will take no risks with his team selection in this evening’s McKenna Cup final with Tyrone at the Armagh Athletic Grounds. Throw-in 6pm.

The Derry manager will use Saturday’s final as a competitive fixture only with his eyes firmly focused on the National League opener with Limerick at Owenbeg on January 28.

It has been six years since Derry appeared in a McKenna Cup final and 12 since they last won the trophy, but that is of little concern to Gallagher who wants his team to be in the best possible shape when the league starts on Saturday week.

“We’re looking forward to another competitive game, which is preparation for the league,” he said. “It is a final, albeit it very much a pre-season final and one that ultimately is well down the list of priorities, but we’re still very grateful for a competitive game. I’m sure the fact that it is us and Tyrone, will mean that there’s a decent crowd at it and it will be a good environment to test our players.

“Derry and Tyrone have traditionally been rivals and I suppose with us playing them in Championship last year and potentially a date down the road it’s no harm to play them here now, even though it will be just preparation for the league at this stage.”

Derry have shown plenty of fighting spirit in the tournament so far, with Lachlan Murray’s point six minutes into stoppage time securing a draw against Tyrone at Owenbeg last week before the Oakleafers came from four points behind against Down to make it to this weekend’s final.

“I would say it’s the minimum requirement, but I have been impressed,” Gallagher admitted. “We were not playing very well whatsoever against Tyrone, particularly in the first half and then the start of the second half, but we dug it out and showed great character and great resilience. You would like to show that on a very consistent basis and likewise against Down, after I suppose going four points down and then losing a man as well, we showed good character there. Ideally we don’t want to find ourselves in those positions to come from behind, but that’s going to happen when you’re playing hungry teams as well.”

With Limerick on the horizon, Gallagher will not take any unnecessary risks with his team.

“We’ll definitely not be risking anybody. We have Niall Loughlin and Shea Downey who should be available for the start of the National League, so we probably won’t risk them. Obviously, you have a couple of Glen lads as well; Benny Heron will hopefully be available this weekend but we’ll not be risking anybody with injury. We’ll be combining with a small bit of experimentation with a fairly consistent number of our first teamers as well.”

Win or lose on Saturday, Gallagher wants a good performance from his players.

“When you sit down at the start of the season, to win it is not a big thing, but we’ll just take it as it goes,” he concluded. “If we win it at the weekend by playing well then we’ll be happy but we’re looking for a good performance and another good battle for, particularly a lot of the lads who maybe haven’t seen as much game time over the last number of years.”