City of Derry should relish Irish Cup test against Ballyclare says Coach Richard McCarter

The 'Green & Black' have been on an excellent run of form of late but will go into the last eight tie as underdogs against a team which has defeated them three times in three games since they dropped out of the senior ranks in 2022. The latest was a 22-13 reversal at The Cloughan in September, a game in which McCarter's produced an excellent display and passed up opportunities to claim victory.

But Ballyclare have since suffered a first league defeat of the season in last week's 34-14 loss to a Cooke side Derry got the better of only seven days previously. Cause for optimism? McCarter thinks so but he warns Derry will have to be at their best to take anything from the biggest game of the season to date.

"It is a huge match, but it's also where we want to be," explained the Derry coach, "And I will be telling the boys that. These are the games you want to be involved in. There are no easy games in this competition given it's the top four junior clubs from each province but an All Ireland Cup quarter-final against Ballyclare, they don't come much bigger.

"You have to be looking forward to it. You want to be in these competitions at this stage, that's why you play."

Derry impressively ousted Connemara in the opening round to set up Saturday's Ulster derby with McCarter delighted to have a home draw.

"Honestly, I don't think it really matters, I'm just glad we’re at home," he explained when asked if he’d rather have avoided Ulster opposition.

"Maybe the fact there’s a bit of familiarity with Ballyclare - it doesn't help they’ve beaten us three times - but we know what we have to do against them. We have to play really well and limit our errors, all the things you'd usually have to do, but we'll have to work bloody hard for the 80 odd minutes. If we do all those things we give ourselves a chance.

"The last meeting up in Ballyclare was actually the first time I've come off a pitch and thought we gave absolutely everything. Sometimes it's tough when that happens but at the same time I always say to the boys that if they give everything and haven't been good enough, then I can live with that.

"That result shows the size of the task ahead to be honest. We played out of our skins that day but missed a few opportunities that you just have to take against top teams. We'll need to play similarly, if not better than that this weekend."

Both David Lapsley and Simon Logue face late fitness tests on muscle injuries picked up in last week's win over Dromore but there was better news for Jake McDevitt who played a full part in training on Tuesday.

"Ballyclare play a similar game to ourselves," added McCarter, "They like to move it and play with tempo and stuff but they have a confidence about them because they have been there or thereabouts at the top of the league table for three or four years. They've got the cup finals, they won trophies, they're just a good, confident side but we have to be able to win these games so we then have that confidence and belief.

"I believe we can beat them but we have to show it on the pitch. We're definitely getting there in terms of our performances. The last few weeks have shown we are not far away. We had a bonus point win against Cooke, denied them anything from the game, and then they went and beat Ballyclare on Saturday.

"So we're definitely not too far away. It's just about doing the right things at the right times in these big games. If it’s a scrappy win on Saturday I'll take it, it's just about doing what we need to do to get the result."