Kildare will be Derry's toughest test yet says Rory Gallagher ahead of Newbridge trip

While Derry are aiming for four wins from four, Glen Ryan's men will be seeking only a second league victory of the season following defeats to Dublin and Cork in their opening two games. Last week's dramatic injury time turnaround against Clare in Ennis, when Kildare were trailing by three in the 71st minute but fought back to win by a point, showed an abundance of character and Gallagher believes they are still one of the counties in the hunt for promotion.

"This will be the biggest test of four first four games," admitted the Derry boss, "Look, Kildare lost to Dublin on the opening day which was always going to be a big ask and they didn't perform against Cork whatsoever but they really dug it out against Clare.

"They came down from six down at one stage to win in injury time which shows the character they have, even after a couple of difficult results.

"Kildare kept going and obviously last year they were a bit unfortunate to go down so despite those couple of results, they will still feel they are definitely not out of the promotion hunt, especially after the way they won last week."

Gallagher dispelled any injury concerns over defender Chrissy McKaigue who was substituted in the victory over Meath and revealed he hopes to have Gareth McKinless back in time for next week's visit of Dublin to Celtic Park.

"Chrissy is 100 per cent," he added, "We took him off because he had been carrying an ever so slight hamstring and the game was already won but he trained away this week and he's good. Gareth probably won't be available but we'd be hoping to have him available for the Dublin game.

"Look, Newbridge is always a difficult venue for visiting teams. It's tight and there's a good atmosphere so it will be a testing environment.

"Absolutely we are looking at this as the toughest test of our first four games but the reality is your next game is always the toughest, no matter who is it against, though we do feel Kildare are a step up in opposition despite them only winning one game so far."

A fourth successive victory would leave Derry well positioned for promotion but with last year's experiences serving as a precautionary tale, Gallagher is not letting anyone get ahead of themselves in a hugely competitive division.

"It's a bit too early for all that but at the end of this three game cycle there should be a fairly clear picture of who is going to be in the hunt and we obviously hope to be one of them," he explained.

"Cork have lost two but probably have an easier run of fixtures as they see it so they’ll see themselves as right in it. Kildare will think they are in it, Meath will think they are in it and Clare can feel very hard done by having only won one game. They were in leading positions to win the other two so, look, there are going to be twists and turns and we have to make sure we come out on the right side every week.

"We'd like to think we are capable of getting results and can push on but we have to go and prove that in every game we go out. We have to show the hunger to make improvements every week."