Derry's Brendan Rogers reveals learning is a two way street with new county men

Rogers had his second midfield partner in two games on Saturday as Mickey Harte used the absence of Conor Glass to pair the Slaughtneil player with Magherafelt's Dan Higgins for the victory over Armagh in the Athletic Grounds. Previous to that Rogers had Steelstown's Donncha Gilmore for company in the group win against Down and despite revelling in the role of the 'senior' partner, the 2023 All Star revealed he’s intent on learning as much as the squad's new boys.

"I suppose on paper it probably looks stronger but with the Glen boys still being out and the Slaughtneil boys not really coming back until late, this is probably only us getting out for the first or second time this year," he explained after Saturday's four point win.

"Look, we are trying to do our best and trying to share knowledge. You're always trying to learn from the young players as well because they bring that freshness at that age. A lot of those young lads have won a fair amount of underage silverware for Derry and things like that so who I am to say I'm the finished article and cannot learn from them and, likewise, them from us? It's a good experience all round."

Derry are one game away from retaining the McKenna Cup after Harte made it 71 victories in 81 games in the competition and Rogers believes the manager's competitive nature is a perfect fit for the Oak Leaf squad.

"That's the competitive nature of how Mickey operates and it reflects in the team," added the midfielder, "You're always going out to win every time. Look, you're never too good to play in any competition and you're never too good to say you don't want to win any competition. Ultimately you want to put your best foot forward all the time and that means you're trying to win every game and this is a competition we're in so we want to win it.

"Every step so far has been about getting to the final and getting another game under our belt; you'd rather be playing games than training so we're looking forward to another game and, hopefully, more silverware all being well."