Derry must win two from three to make Christy Ring final - Johnny McGarvey

The Oak Leafers made it two wins from two with an emphatic victory over Tyrone at Owenbeg on Saturday but now face championship defining games away to Kildare this weekend and home to London on May 11th. The three counties sit tied on four points after two rounds with the matches between them likely to decide which two progress to Croke Park.

"I think over the whole game, yes," replied McGarvey when asked if Saturday's 2-26 to 0-13 victory was a season's best display.

"It probably got a bit messy in the second half. We did a few silly things, hand passes that didn't go to hand, a few over-carried - with probably 10 changes in the second half between the two teams, that happens in matches – but overall, unquestionably, that's the performance of the season.

"No disrespect to Tyrone or to Wicklow but I always felt that the two toughest games were going to be Kildare and London, and that's our next two.

"London have cracking forwards, they're a different animal when they come to the Christy Ring. I think the league matches will be forgotten about. There are three or four new players in there who are all real good players, and then Kildare are the favourites.

"These two games are crucial. There's three left and you'll have to win two to get a place in the final.

"Look, Kildare are the favourites, that's fair enough. I've no problem with that but we're going to go there all guns blazing next week, and they're going to be the ones that have to beat us."

McGarvey sprung a surprise against the Red Hands by shifting U20 star Ruairi O Mianain to full forward in a tactical switch that paid real dividends, the Slaughtneil player at the heart of almost all Derry's attacking moves.

"It's about getting the spread, especially in the big games, in the tight games," explained the Derry boss, "Last year in the Christy Ring, our spread of scores was brilliant but against Meath in the two games it wasn't. It's something that we've looked at.

"It's about getting everybody chipping in and putting scores on the board. It doesn't even have to be about getting scores on the board, even if it's winning the frees that we're knocking over.

"Ruairi was very good there today. It was just a decision made this week, it's not something that's been looked at. Whether it happens next week again, we'll wait and see. But it gives us options, and probably we didn't have them a lot of times.

"We've changed our full forward quite a few times. We went with three inside and the teams are playing with sweepers against us. There's just a lot of things to take into consideration. Nearly every game this season, somebody's played a sweeper against us. I don't think Kildare will. It would be a totally different dynamic, so whether we play with that next week or not, we'll wait and see.”