Mickey Harte expecting nothing easy from 'Dublin juggernaut' in league final

Harte was specking after his Derry panel completed a hugely impressive return to top flight football with a ruthless 2-19 to 1-09 demolition of Roscommon in Celtic Park on Sunday, a game in which all but one point of the home tally came from play. The victory made it six Division One wins from seven, the only blemish being a five point home defeat to the All Ireland champions at the start of March.

The sides will now meet again next Sunday to decide the fate of the 2024 league title and while Harte is delighted with his side's consistency this season, he knows a hug challenge awaits in headquarters next weekend.

“It's been a good league for us," explained the Derry manager, "Any day you get to the Division 1 final, you're doing okay. Unfortunately, you see the juggernaut that's coming down the other side, but that's where they're at so we have to go there and see how you can manage to play against them this time.

"We didn't do great here in Celtic Park. In Croke Park, it probably won't be any easier, but it's great to be in the final. To be in the final you had to be consistent and we were consistent across the seven games and that's why we're going next week for a final.”

With one foot in the final even before throw-in, and facing a Roscommon side who had to win, Harte admitted it was a difficult first half for his team who then outscored Roscommon 1-11 to 0-1 over the final half hour.

“It is always difficult when somebody has got a greater cause on the day than you have," said Harte, "You know they're going to come with all guns blazing and they're fighting for their life and they proved that for 45 minutes maybe.

"But you just have to get your head around that and we couldn't be dependent on (other) results. We didn't want to be dependent on results anywhere else during this league. We wanted to be in control of our own destiny and we managed to do that throughout the league.

"We threatened them more in the first half than we ever delivered. Even then we got the lead at half-time but messed up a few scoring chances and they got back to draw the game. We just felt we weren't just knitting everything together at that stage and all it needed was one or two of those things to click and then we would probably kick into some kind of form again, so I think we did that.

“Lachlan Murray was very good and kicked a few good points and got that goal, which was very important. We were creating plenty right throughout the game but the last ball let us down several times and we paid the price for that.

"That kept it a very close game and a game that was losable at that stage, but when we got a grip of it then and got a bit of a gap widened up, I think our players played with a bit more freedom.”