Table topping Derry minors finish Championship group with Fermanagh

McKaigue rolled his ankle during last weekend's superb 0-6 to 3-12 away victory over a previously unbeaten Donegal team that had won the minor League final, and now faces a race against time to be fit for the quarter-final against Antrim on May 13th.

With Derry already assured of top spot in the group by virtue of having defeated Donegal and Monaghan who meet this week to decide second place, that quarter-final meeting with the Saffrons now becomes Damian McErlain's focus though is adamant Derry must maintain their intensity this week in a game that is essentially a dead rubber.

"We know at this stage we'll be playing Antrim so we have nothing really to play for in terms of the championship this week but we'll be looking to keep the standards high," explained the Derry manager.

"We have played two very strong teams in Monaghan and Donegal over the last couple of weeks and we played well, but we have to make sure we keep our bite even with nothing on the line."

Despite already securing top spot, McErlain is not expected to tinker too much with a team that has impressed in the group stages, registering three wins from three to date.

"We were very happy with the performance against Donegal," added the Derry manager, "A lot of the things we have been working on in training and things we had learned from the league final defeat against Donegal, were put right. We showed serious work rate and hunger to do the right things.

"To be honest we have no plans to change things up too much this week. We have used our squad well over the last couple of games and all the boys coming in off the bench have had an impact but we'll be as strong as we can be and then see how the match develops.

"The objective was to finish top of the group and we have done that so the next objective now will be to try and reach the final because that qualifies you for the All Ireland Series."