City of Derry out to secure top four as Enniskillen visit Judges Road

The 'Green and Black' will travel to Kingspan Stadium on Saturday March, 30th (5pm) to take on the winner of this weekend's second semi-final between Ballyclare and Dromore but before that they have the the no so small matter of league games against Enniskillen this Saturday and Ballymoney (March 23rd).

With only the top four guaranteed a place in next season's Irish Junior Cup, McCarter knows his side still have work to do to book their spot with both fourth placed Dromore and fifth placed Ballymoney holding a game in hand over the Judges Road men.

Victory this weekend would simplify the equation considerably and McCarter is hoping his team won't become distracted by their Kingspan date.

"Although the cup final has brought a fair bit of buzz with it, and we are delighted to be there, we have to park it over the next few weeks because we still have a job to do, "he explained, "There are still points to be won in these last two league matches in order to guarantee a top four finish.

"This weekend mentality is going to be a huge part of it this weekend against Enniskillen. I know we have the capabilities of winning on Saturday, there's no doubt about it, but Enniskillen are a team going for the league and their mindset will be they HAVE to beat us so it's up to us to match that.

"They play us this week and then Ballyclare next so they have to win both those games. They obviously have a bit of momentum and confidence and haven't shipped the same amount of injuries this season as we have but in a one off game we definitely have the panel to cause them problems, it's just about whether we can sustain it for 80 minutes."

Derry will be without Adam Marley, Tiernan Thornton, Simon Logue and Conor Cummings for the visit of the side sitting second in the Championship One table. Fourth placed Derry currently have 48 points - 10 more than Dromore and 12 better off than Ballymoney who can reach 53 and 51 points respectively if they were to win all their remaining matches.

"The fact Dromore and Ballymoney play each other and we play Ballymoney as well means it is within our own hands," added McCarter, "One five pointer will get us to 53 points which is the most Dromore can reach and two more than Ballymoney can reach. The bottom line is we need to pick up points over the final two games.

"The second half performance in the cup last week showed what we are about. The first half was just typical of what we have been like over the past month - defensively we were undisciplined and in attack e were blunt. Second half we just opened up and made it look pretty easy.

"It’s our last home game too this weekend which I think is totally forgotten about and we have only been beaten by one team at home this season and that's Ballyclare, so there is home pride at stake as well.

"It could be the last home game for some of the players as well so we have to thrive off that. It gives us an added incentive to try and finish the home season in good form. As I say if we can get four or five points this week it certainly takes the pressure off in terms of that top four race."