Brendan Rogers praises Derry support which 'works both ways'

For the second Ulster Final in succession, come full-time on Ulster Final day the pitch was awash with red and white but the impact this group of players is having goes far beyond simple wins or losses. A county starved of success for many years has found it's voice again. Last year's post match scenes were remarkable but Sunday's even more critical because this was proof it's no flash in the pan, on or off the pitch.

Within the sanctum of the close knit Derry squad, Rogers is that rare breed who has now experienced both sides of county football with Derry - the success of the last two seasons in stark contrast to relegations, meagre crowds and the lack of interest the county has known over the past decade. It means he's well placed to judge the current success and what it can do for the county beyond this summer. Well, he would be if he ever gets a second from having to answer the door!

"We do know (the significance of back to back titles), it's very important," explains the Derry midfielder from under the Gerry Arthurs Stand following Sunday's dramatic penalty shoot-out victory.

"I was about when Derry was unsuccessful there very recently and it is an unbelievably lonely place. No one is even talking about the game but now you see kids coming about. I had something like 18 kids call to my door yesterday (Saturday) asking me about the game; how's Derry football going? Will you come out and play with us in the park? All those kind of things. That's what this is doing for kids in the area. It's getting them out, getting them off social media, getting them off the Xbox."It sounds so small but what that does in the lifestyle of the people in your county, in your community, it is unreal. And it is happy days that it gets back to the supporters who follow it. That is special."

That resurgent relationship between an oft criticised support base and its county team is one Rogers says the players are keen to see continue throughout this summer's All Ireland Series.

"Doing back to back titles is obviously very difficult in Ulster given the calibre of the teams involved. There are a lot of Division One and Two teams in it so it is highly competitive," he adds, "Yes, we are aware it's special and maybe it's me showing my age - I'm only 29! - but you are totally aware it only happens the more we stay focused. It only happens if we train well, it only happens if we work hard so we have to keep our end of the bargain to get that support out all the time."If you start losing or getting into bad rucks or bad habits, it just doesn't happen, you don't get the support and we love having it. We love seeing everyone out."

The Slaughtneil man has been a revelation at midfield this season, his own metamorphosis mirroring Derry's attacking evolution over the last 12 months. Rogers was the opening half's stand out performer in the Ulster Final as he hit 1-02 from play, a fact he believes reflects the believes the changing face of the traditional GAA line-up.

“It’s just the way the game is. Defenders are getting opportunities to score and maybe with that we have developed a style of play that allowed me to get a little bit better. Eoin McEvoy has come out of minors and doing really well at full back.

"Look, you have to attack with 15, so, you have to be comfortable up there taking shots. I’m not going to say that I’m an unbelievable shooter, but you work on it at training. Everybody gets shooting. It’s not just the forwards. And the forwards have to tackle, just like the defenders. We defend together. We attack together. You have to get everybody into position and I can’t say I was taking worldy shots, the were on top of the 'D'."

In many ways Rogers and other members of Derry's team typifies the changing world of the modern GAA tactics board and it is a world away from the set positions of yesteryear.

“We train with the philosophy that you become adaptive with your style of play – to any style of play, so the way we train is not necessarily, I’m not going to say it’s not tactical, it is tactical, but you’re giving yourself that opportunity to be malleable when it comes to how teams play," he adds/.

"The messages that we received from Ciaran are no different to the messages we have received from Ciaran (Meenagh) all year. The same with Enda (Muldoon). It’s a team. It’s a backroom team. Everybody has their own components. Enda is a forward orientated person but he also gives defenders pointers on what forwards don’t like. So, there’s a lot of messages goes on.

"The instruction for us, we kind of done a lot of detail on Armagh the week prior. This week was a bit of a down week to give us that bit of energy so we were all very clear as to what we were doing as a team. We stuck together as a team and we don’t like any noise outside of the camp. We like to train alone. We train privately and develop more, we're comfortable with each other and comfortable to talk things through."

The lottery of winning a second title on penalties, Rogers had every sympathy for Armagh.

“I was a wee bit deflated when the final whistle went, knowing it was going to penalties. Maybe it is just something we are not used to, it’s out of your control. So when you are not picked, aye, it’s a surreal way to win. ]

“Obviously the last penalty going in, you get that elation again but it is bound to be unbelievably difficult for Armagh to have to deal with that. It’s not what we know in Gaelic football but we won at the end of the day and I’m ecstatic.”