Emmett Bradley hoping Derry can rediscover spark against Mayo in Castlebar

Mickey Harte's men took the first tentative steps on the road to championship recovery last weekend with an improved - if imperfect - victory over Westmeath in Newry. That victory in Pairc Esler was Derry's first championship victory in four attempts in 2024 but still enough to secure passage through to the knock-out phase and leave the Oak Leafers one win away from a quarter-final berth.

It's testament to how quickly the championship landscape can change - as Derry have found out themselves this season - and Bradley believes victory over a team of Mayo's calibre could help redress the balance further.

"It's difficult to put a finger on (what went wrong) because there has been a dip in performance, it's clear for everyone to see," explained the Glen midfielder, "For us, our energy is fully focused on trying to rectify it and trying to change the momentum in our favour again and build a bit of momentum moving into this weekend.

"There was a bit of improvement at the weekend albeit it wasn't a performance we are overly happy with against Westmeath. We knew it was going to be a tricky fixture given what had had gone on but it was important for us to get the result.

"We’ll take it at this stage," adds Bradley on the fact the find themselves with possibly the toughest draw of the preliminary ties, "It's an opportunity to get through to the next round. If we happen to get over the weekend we're at the same stage as all the other teams who made the quarter-final initially. It's maybe not the route we wanted to take but it's where we’re at and what we have to face up to. We know it is going to be a huge challenge."

There have been positive signs amid all the recent criticism. Gareth McKinless makes his return this weekend while Eoin McEvoy and Cormac Murphy both have another week's training under their belts and Conor Doherty is expected to play at least some part aginst Mayo. Niall Loughlin too is nearing a return and while it remains to be seen if last week's win was enough to fully repair the damage inflicted by three damaging defeats, Bradley believes a clean sheet was an important step forward.

"I believe we are," replied Bradley when asked if Derry remain good enough, "But on recent form you could probably argue that we’ve shown we aren't at that level currently so it's very important we try and get back to that level quickly. That's a challenge in a short space of time but one we are working on.

"One thing was the concession of goals. Anyone who who has played sport knows that's a very difficult thing to swing in the game itself when momentum goes against you that heavily. That's something we are addressing and something we’ll be hoping to be a lot better at moving forward."

Mayo have had their own disappointments after losing to Galway in the Connacht final and coming within seconds of defeating Dublin before Cormac Costello's injury time point to denied them the direct route to the quarter-finals. Contrasting form form coming into this weekend's game but Bradley says the present format has room for redemption stories.

"Absolutely, that's the beauty of the format that we are currently working with," he explained, "One good result against Mayo, particularly given the level they are playing at currently. We watched them against Dublin and we know they’re operating at a really high level so if we are able to go and compete there and get a result, that will be absolutely huge in terms of getting a bit of form and a bit of fluidity back."