Derry hoping to write a new chapter this Sunday

All-Ireland SFC semi-final
Derry v Kerry
Sunday, Croke Park, 4pm
Referee: Joe McQuillan
Live on RTÉ and BBC

The cream always rises to the top and Derry face acid test as they bid to navigate their way to a third All-Ireland final

The Ulster champions must walk oust reigning champions Kerry; a path not walked since 2008 – their last win over the Kingdom.

It was April and Parnell Park was packed to the rafters as the Oakleafers annexed the National League final.

The only survivor from that success is selector Enda Muldoon. Benny Heron was in his first year of minor and it was later that summer before Paddy Crozier handed Chrissy McKaigue his senior debut in a slender qualifier defeat in Clones.

It was a summer when Barry Owens dashed any Oakleaf hopes an Ulster title with the flick of his wrist.

Since then, Eoin McEvoy and Lachlan Murray were winners when the Oaks stood tall in the delayed minor final win over Kerry.

In between, Derry’s record against Kerry makes for grim reading. Five senior meetings and five defeats, including the 2009 league final.

At minor level, Kerry put the Oakleafers’ light out three years in a row. The 2015 semi-final, the last eight the following year and the David Clifford show in the 2017 decider. Throw in St Patrick’s Maghera’s Hogan Cup final defeats to both St Brendan’s Killarney and Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne.

Derry’s bright side of the record has been the filtering of those minor players into the real world of senior football. The county’s dire run at u-20/u-21 level still remains, but Rory Gallagher - and now Ciarán Meenagh – were happy to put their faith in youth.

Had Eoin McEvoy not been niggled with injury, he’d have been in the 2022 Ulster winning mix. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.

Of the Derry senior squad, 11 of the players featured under Damian McErlain in the years when playing county minor football became trendy again.

After the defeat to Derry in 2015, McErlain noticed the chiselled Kerry bodies as the players swapped jersies. He addressed it in his post-game interview and, since then, strength and conditioning became a focus in Derry.

There hasn’t been an interview with anyone from the Derry camp that hasn’t referenced the input of Peter Hughes who leads that side of things with the senior group.

As Derry play their 20th game of the season on Sunday, their tried and tested first choice cohort of players will be available for selection. It speaks volumes for the foundations laid. Strength, flexibility, injury prevention and rehabilitation are the new buzz words.

Ryan Scullion (dislocated finger), Oisin McWilliams (shin fracture) and Matthew Downey (quad) will miss out.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d wonder if Derry had any business in showing up on Sunday. The narrative is dancing around a Dublin and Kerry showpiece to save football. It’s James McCarthy’s destiny to lift Sam before walking into the sunset. Kerry are coming good at the right time.

A siege mentality this week then? It’s hard to see that seeping too much into the Oakleaf camp. Cork came into the quarter-final on the back of running Kerry close, beating Mayo and Roscommon, yet were completely written off.

Derry being heavy favourites was news to Ciarán Meenagh. He doesn’t read papers to told the assembled press. His social media account is parked for the summer. The background noise is nothing more than background noise.

The “forensic” study of their Galway semi-final defeat was prominent in their 2023 project. Control what you can control. Having the Anglo Celt Cup for another winter is progress. Getting up to Division One the same. A return to the last four brings a motivation of wanting to show their improvements.

A better account of themselves. That’s what Sunday is about. If they put enough eggs in that basket, the place in an All-Ireland soon becomes a possibility.

The dig into their own performance against Cork will reveal the spell before half time. A wide. A cheap possession coughed up. Two balls left short into the goalkeepers’ arms.

Cork didn’t have the killer instinct O’Shea, Geaney and the Cliffords possession. This is there Derry need to brush up. It’s top-level football and every mistake has the potential to swing a game.

Kerry are favourites and their hammering of Tyrone helps back that up, but Derry will learn plenty from looking on. Defensively, sitting too deep allows Kerry space to kick points from outside any defensive shield.

Had the Red Hands played their composure card in the dying embers of the first half, scores were there for them. And, even at 0-9 to 0-6, Kerry were within reach at the break.

It was the 1-5 blitz after half time where the rot began. It was the same with Derry against Galway last year. Watching the first half, Derry were in the box seat, but didn’t make enough hay.

Three Galway scores from frees allowed three maroon presses on Odhrán Lynch’s kick-out and within the blink of an eye, Derry were three points in arrears. The game they were chasing was already walking out the gap before Damien Comer’s first goal.

Scratch the surface on Derry’s defeat to Dublin in the league final and you’ll find a first half performance of the highest order. But once Killian O’Gara flicked home the first goal, the heavens opened. Their defensive midfield ace Conor Glass was replaced. Chrissy McKaigue was already on the sidelines and Derry’s goose was cooked.

McKaigue will more than likely pick up David Clifford on Sunday. Marking the Fossa man will be a damage limitation exercise and McKaigue’s diligence to follow a man every step will offer the best shadow Derry can give him.

It’s where Derry go after that where the debate starts. Paudie Clifford and Sean O’Shea help make put the ducks in a row.

And an out and out Derry sweeper brings its own problems. It frees up Tadhg Morley to double up on Shane McGuigan. When he was minor manager, Jack O’Connor handed the McGuigan role to Jason Foley.

This is the Derry conundrum. How much do you rob Peter to pay Paul. It’s Derry’s flooding of their defence that will suffocate the Kerry attack.

Conor Doherty could be assigned the Paudie Clifford brief, with Paudi McGrogan going toe to toe with O’Shea. Gareth McKinless is most suited to playing as the sitter in front of Clifford with Conor Glass doing what he does, policing anywhere from midfield back.

It would leave Conor McCluskey to pick up Paul Geaney, who scored 1-5 against Derry in victory at Celtic Park in 2015, the last senior meeting of the counties.

At midfield, you’d fancy Derry to sway a pivotal battle. It’s at the other end where Derry need to make gains. There are few better at snuffing out the danger, but it’s occupying Morley that will be the key to how much punch Derry can muster going the other way.

While you question how much Kerry put into the league, any time a team that asked any serious questions had a half forward division to make them defend.

Defender Tom O’Sullivan, with 0-18 to his name, is Kerry’s fifth top scorer and he’d sit in the same spot in the Derry leaderboard despite the Kingdom playing four games less. He can’t be left free to slice over points.

And Gavin White’s pace will need matched, but Kerry may hammer the hammer by putting White on Ethan Doherty. That’ll be some battle.

Kerry started Graham O’Sullivan on Mattie Donnelly with what looked like a role of just attacking him and there is the guile of Paul Murphy to contend with who has held out Brian Ó Beaglaoich from the starting line-up.

Derry need to find the Kerry net that has been breached only by Mayo sub Eoghan McLaughlin in the championship thus far, but it only tells half the story. Only for Shane Ryan’s saves and David Clifford kicking points at the other end, the Kingdom would’ve been beat out the gate.

Kerry will wear the favourites tag, but this is Derry’s day to make a statement. All the talk is about Dublin and Kerry.

If anything, there is a feeling of Tyrone 2003 about this game. It’s a day when everyone inside the Derry bubble have to believe and play like there is no tomorrow. Because there isn’t. The history books suggest a Kerry win, but this chapter hasn’t been written yet.