Dublin potential 'scary' admits Derry manager Mickey Harte ahead of league final

Derry topped the regulation table with six wins from seven games but have already experienced first hand the threat of the All Ireland champions who inflicted the Oak Leafers' sole defeat of 2024 with a five point Celtic Park victory at the beginning of March, albeit in a game Harte made several changes for.

Indeed after a slow start, Dessie Farrells side have slipped ruthlessly into top gear over the past few weeks and served noticed of their intention to claim a first outright league victory since 2018 when they dismantled Tyrone last weekend by 5-18 to 0-12. It was a performance to make people sit up and take notice but Harte says Derry will relish the opportunity to test themselves against the best in the country.

"Absolutely, it’s always good to be in a big final in Croke Park," explained the Oak Leaf boss, "Obviously it’s another chance to play against the Dubs and they are the top team as last year's All Ireland champions, so it's big ask but, yeah, it's good to be there.

"It's the place you want to be, to be in finals with a national title up for grabs, and this is Division One, the best of the divisions. Every team that's in (Croke Park) this weekend will want to win their title and we'll be no different. But we know the challenge, we've seen what Dublin are about over the last few weeks, particularly against Tyrone.

"I know Tyrone had a weakened side with a lot of experienced players missing but that doesn't take away from the quality Dublin produced. It’s scary to look at what they are capable of."

Derry are unlikely to risk Gareth McKinless this weekend after the Ballinderry player broke his nose against Roscommon last Sunday but otherwise Derry have close to a full hand. It means Derry should field something much closer to their expected championship 15 with Harte admitting the changes made in the earlier league meeting was with one eye on managing expectations after a run of four straight league victories.

"Well, it was a chance to allow some players to play against the best in the game at the minute," he said of the 1-16 to 1-11 defeat, "That's why we wanted to do that. We had four wins at that stage so we felt we were pretty safe and maybe to take a bit of the heat off ourselves by not going on an unbeaten run which would create all sorts of expectation."

Sunday is a repeat pairing of the 2014 final, the last time Derry were in the Division One decider. Dublin triumphed 3-19 to 1-10 that day and the decade that followed saw a marked contrast in the fortunes of the two counties as Derry dropped to Division Four while Dublin became the country's dominant footballing force. And Harte believes it’s now crucial his players get as much experience in Croke Park against the top sides as possible.

"It's good to play in Croke Park, to get the Croke park experience, and the fact it's going to be a double bill of finals means there should be a good crowd," he added, "It should give the players experience of playing on that pitch against top quality players in an atmosphere that could be intimidating if you didn't know anything about it.

"It should be good be good to taste that atmosphere because when the Dubs starting singing on 'The Hill', it’s an atmosphere like no other."