Meenagh eyes busy fortnight

By Michael McMullan

THERE have been two elements of Derry’s focus since their vital win over Tyrone. The first part has been locking eyes on Kildare in Newbridge on Saturday. The other is an awareness of three games in a 15-day spell, starting on Saturday, that will go a long way to shape Division Two.

That’s the take of Oakleafers’ manager Ciarán Meenagh, who also explained what a two-week window looks like in the middle of a packed league schedule.

“I suppose every county manager is the same,” Meenagh told Gaelic Life, breaking down a squad three ways.

“You have the value of players that are returning (from injury), to push them on a bit.

“Players that have been playing but that probably aren’t up to speed, you can get another bit of training into them, I’d say that’s the second thing.

“Thirdly, players that are close, but that are not making the team at the minute, get an opportunity to push on where you can do a bit more difficult training, play a bit more football.

“It gives people an opportunity to move up and down the ladder, which is also important.

“It’s not a one-approach-fits-all either, it’s about profiling players into bands and then trying to manage the situation as best you can and balance them.”

Looking back on their win over Tyrone, Meenagh feels both management teams will have had a similar outlook to progress in the two-week window.

“The game, in terms of being competitive and in terms of both teams putting everything into winning it, we will learn a lot, all of us will learn a lot from that,” he said.

“I think we’ll both reflect on it and say that our performance was riddled with far too many errors, that were self-inflicted. We’ll look through that through the prism of our own eyes in terms of where we are. As we look to progress, we have to take care of our own housekeeping matters.”

With Patrick McGurk, Conall Higgins and Ruairi Forbes putting their Sigerson commitments behind them following Friday’s semi-final defeat for Queen’s, Derry will be the full focus this week.

Meenagh commented after the Meath game how Conor Glass was just returning to training, with Shane McGuigan and Brendan Rogers coming back after an extended break.

“I think it’s a matter for them, as individuals, of just getting that level of fitness, that level of touch, getting their eye in,” he said, when asked what a pathway back into the county scene looks like.

“In a wider context, it’s a question of chemistry. It’s a matter of training with the same players and developing that same chemistry in training with players that you’re going to be playing with.

“It’s just getting back on to the same wavelength as them. It’s just a matter of being on the training field and getting the games under your belt. The more you get that time under your belt, the more the performances will reflect that.”