OPINION: Derry can reach far more than just Division One with nights like Saturday!

Rory Gallagher, Rogers et al have made no secret of their desire for promotion this season. It’s objective No. 1 as Rogers admitted after the Kildare stroll.

Yet, as well as being one of the best players in Ireland, Derry's match winner is a proper gent, accommodating fans and media on good days and bad. He's a credit to Slaughtneil and to Derry and it's a good job too because more than 40 minutes after Saturday’s final whistle he was still on the Celtic Park pitch, smiling for photos and signing autographs for a never ending swarm of captivated fans.

There were all ages too but it was the number of kids that couldn't have escaped anyone inside Celtic Park and Rogers and his Derry team mates had just given those impressionable minds the kind of night that gets inside young heads and makes representing your county a life goal. Sounds obvious but 12,077 inside Celtic Park has been the exception rather than the rule, a bit like county tops in the city centre.

That latter point has been changing gradually but the evolution from Premier League jerseys to club and county tops in the city is not solely down to the success on the pitch. People like Paul Simpson, Brian O'Donnell, Neil Forester, Eoghan Carlin, Matthew Maguire, Ciara McGurk and many others have been doing sterling work in primary schools for a while now, work that doesn't grab headlines and won't produce over night results; but this is evolution not revolution and that work is changing the face of Gaelic Games in the city. Participation is up, facilities are first class and the 'soccer city' moniker doesn't sit as comfortably. And remember, there's plenty of room for both as the weekend showed!

But don't underestimate your shop window. Kids need heroes and Rory Gallagher's squad is providing them. Kids need dreams and Rory Gallagher's squad is providing the chance to dream again with nights like Saturday an invaluable piece of the jigsaw. They may not even realise it, but this Derry squad can reach far beyond Division One if they keep producing nights like that!