City of Derry face huge Ulster derby against Bangor

City of Derry Head Coach Paul O’Kane says his players must relish two home ‘cup finals’ in two weeks as Bangor arrive for a huge AIL Division 2C clash.

Defeat at Enniscorthy before the Six Nations enforced mini break dropped Derry to ninth in the table but only seven points separate O’Kane’s men from fourth placed Omagh with teams leaping several positions almost every week. So while this week’s opposition sit two positions above Derry, only a single point keeps them ahead and with third placed Tullamore next to arrive at judges Road seven days later, O’Kane is fully aware Derry are entering a pivotal stage of their season.

“We have two home games in a row and no one is under any illusions that if we don’t come out of these on the right side, then we will be in real difficulties,” admitted O’Kane, “They are like two cup finals.

“This week will be blood and thunder. Bangor know how much danger they will be in if we beat them so there is a huge amount at stake for both sides.

“You’d like to think that we can dominate them but there is also that familiarity between the sides. I think this is the fourth time this season we’ve played each other so that plays a part as well.

“There hasn’t been more than a score between the teams each time we’ve played this season and it will probably be very similar this weekend.

”In our eyes, we dominated up at Bangor in the first game but we couldn’t finish our chances off. We were tweaking a few things that week as regards to how we wanted to play which did work but it was the first time we had tried the changes. We’d like to think the decision making will be a bit better this week. The structure we had up there was good but we maybe over did it to a degree and this week we’re hoping our decision making, as well as the structure, turns up.

“We want to make sure we get parity at the scrum. We are working hard to solve our line-out issues and trying to be more simplistic in that regard.”

With the exception of Chris Lamberton who has returned to the US, Derry should be at full strength for a game which is expected to attract a decent crowd to the Craig Thompson Stadium at Judges Road for a clash of two of the best packs in the division.

”We should be as strong as we can be. Yes, Chris is away back to America again but we should be at full strength otherwise. Sam Duffy is not 100 per cent but will be available.

”Bangor have a massive scrum,” adds O’Kane, “They like to think they have the best scrum in the league but we were able to largely negate it up there so that battle will be a big part of the game again. If we can stop them dominating in there it will allow our game to flow as well as stagnating their game.

“Bangor will bring a very, very physical game. It is always a physical battle with Bangor. They are one of the biggest teams in the league and defeated Enniscorthy recently by dominating them up front.

“We know that we need to get things right from the start. We need to be accurate and very physical. It’s likely to be a poor day weather wise so we’ll have to manage that as well.”

The Derry coach says he was frustrated by the break in fixtures with player now anxious to get back out on the pitch.

“Was it a good time for a break? Not really to be honest. It is a frustrating period of time,” he explained.

“You’re trying to get boys out and to commit to the AIL and then that break period means they will put other things ahead of rugby. The first week, we had a few sore bodies after our Enniscorthy game so we had a recovery period, in the pool and gym sessions but you’d prefer to be playing regularly

“There is a decent vibe about the squad at the minute with everyone working hard in the right direction but we are under no illusions that Saturday is going to be a very tough test.”