Derry must aim for next level says Rory Gallagher ahead of Offaly test

Derry made a highly impressive return to action in last Saturday’s 2-14 to 0-12 victory over Longford in a match that witnessed senior debuts for goalscorer Paul Cassidy as well as Glen duo, Ethan Doherty and Conor Glass, the latter only days after he rejoined the panel following a five year stint in Aussie Rules.

The result had initially kept alive Derry’s slim hopes of promotion, although those slim hopes were finally extinguished on Tuesday with the news that Longford were conceding their final game against Cork, the result of which means Down secured promotion to Division Two without having kicked a ball since the restart.

It was always a long shot at best as far as Derry were concerned with Gallagher, who will have Jack Doherty back in contention this week, had already shifted his focus to the Ulster Championship and the November 1st meeting with Armagh as he seeks to build a squad that can serve Derry well over the coming seasons.

“It is early days. We have Emmet (Bradley) missing, Paudie McGrogan missing, Shea Downey missing, Karl (McKaigue) has a long term injury but Niall Toner and one or two more that will be back in this week, people like Jack Doherty, Alex (Doherty) is only back training,” explained the Derry boss

“There is a lot of exciting forward talent. We have to marry that with quality defenders. Obviously big Conor (Glass) coming back gives us a different dimension in the middle of the field but we are trying to build a squad that we feel can compete with the best teams in the country. We are a long way off that at the minute but that’s the challenge.”

Gallagher was happy with what was an encouraging first step on Saturday but warned the challenge now is for Derry to produce that level of performance and result more consistently.

“We want momentum going into the Championship,” he explained, “We want to win games. This team hasn’t won many games. You must remember they were in Division Four last year after they went through free fall. The previous year they wouldn’t have beaten a team as good as Longford or Tipperary that we have beat this year. We now have to beat those teams consistently.

“We’ve got to move above them, that’s the challenge for us and Offaly is the next barometer for that. Offaly have been consistently good in Division Three and we want to make sure we beat them and move forward.”