Derry Minors host Cavan at Owenbeg in Ulster Championship

Derry v Down

(Sat, Find Insurance Owenbeg, 12pm)

Derry minor manager Kieran Glackin is expecting the toughest test of their season to date when Cavan arrive at Find Insurance Owenbeg on Saturday for an intriguing Ulster Championship Round Two clash.

The meeting will be the second time the counties have met this season following Cavan's League Shield final victory against an experimental Derry line-up in March with Glackin expecting a very different encounter this time round.

"It's going to be a tricky game because, as we saw in the league, they’re a good team," explained Bellaghy native Glackin, "They are strong and physical; they’re fast. They attack with pace and we will have to be on right on it: but we intend to be.

"Preparations have been good. It's a long enough season but the league is really shadow boxing to get ourselves to where we are at now. Once you get to the championship, that's the important time of the year and I suppose every county in Ulster will have been treating the season very similarly.

"They will have got themselves through the league using their panel to be a position where they have a championship panel with plenty of options. That's what we used the league for and everything is now on the championship full steam."

Tadhg Bradley - son of Derry legend, Paddy - is Derry's only injury concern. The exciting forward pulled up in the warm-up ahead of Derry's opening tie against Down with a groin strain which forced him to miss the match. He remains a doubt for this weekend's encounter, the winner of which will proceed to a home semi-final; the loser dropping into a quarter-final against one of the second the second round qualifying winners.

Cavan arrive having suffered only one defeat all season, that a Minor League group meeting with Tyrone when they were missing a number of key players, including talisman Jake Brady. Brady was back as the Breffni men defeated Donegal 2-13 to 2-12 in their opening Ulster Championship tie, a game that also saw Jay Graham hit 1-05.

"We had a look at them in our last league game (Shield final) and we know they're going to come with a big challenge," added Glackin.

"Obviously they got over a very tough game against Donegal in the first round which was a great result for them. As we know, Donegal are a very strong team.

"Cavan will gain a lot of momentum from that game. When the initial draw was made I'd imagine most teams in the seed one pot didn't want Donegal as they were seen as the strongest team in the seed two pot. Cavan got them and will have gained a lot from the result.

"When they played Tyrone (in the league) they were missing Jake Brady who's probably one of the best minor players in Ulster and at that age, if you're missing one of your best players, it can make a huge difference.

"We didn't read too much into that Tyrone game because of that and they've been pretty convincing in every other game they've played so it's going to be a big challenge."

Cahir McDonnell's goal proved the decisive score in Derry's first round victory over Down, a tie in which Conall Campbell and Gabriel Gormley were excellent and one which should give the Oak Leafers plenty of confidence as they seek to continue through the 'front door'.

"Yeah, we came through a very tough game against Down," added the Derry manager, "That Down team will go into the back door system and cause team plenty of problems.

"So we have gained confidence from winning that game. It was very important to us to win and stay in the front door section. We’re thankful to have picked up another home draw and would feel we’re in a good place. We know it's going to be a big test against Cavan but we've prepared well and are looking forward to it."