By Michael McMullan

SUNDAY in Celtic Park isn’t exactly the last chance saloon but it’s not far off it for Derry. Paddy Tally said as much after Saturday’s defeat to Armagh.

Their season of fits and starts has failed to lay all of the pieces of a puzzle on any one day.

Ironically Galway are the only team not to have beaten Derry this season. Dylan McHugh’s goal shot Pádraic Joyce’s side into the driving seat before Lachlan Murray pulled Derry back from nowhere.

On a night when John Maher was breaking up Derry attacks, it was John Daly who threw himself on Ethan Doherty’s last kick to win the game. His block was enough for Galway to escape with a draw.

Joyce and Mickey Graham were in Armagh on Saturday night to watch their next two opponents up close. They were also in Clones to run their eyes over the Ulster final.

That’s the other concern for Derry. Galway have had two weeks to get their sights on Celtic Park and they have the baggage of losing to Dublin. There is always something dangerous about a top dog with something to prove.

The Galway eyes will have picked up Armagh’s blockade on Derry’s kick-out at the start of both halves.

The Oaks were 0-3 to 0-1 down by the time Diarmuid Baker hoovered up a first Derry kick-out on the way to a Shane McGuigan wide. Seconds later, Conaty kicked a two pointer.

It was the same at the start of the second half when Derry had dug themselves back into contention.

Armagh won the throw-in, scored off it and added three more points before Derry hands were on the ball again.

“All of a sudden, the game is back out to or seven or eight and then you’re really under pressure,” Paddy Tally summed up of the game’s defining spell.

Saturday against the All-Ireland champions was another case of being outplayed for spells before getting a grip.

Dublin in Croke Park. Those last few moments against Kerry. Michael Murphy creating goal chances in Ballyshannon.

That’s why the Galway league game stands out. Derry were on their way to the winning line. And it’s something they’ll have to cling to this week. Tally feels there are enough green shoots from last weekend. Add in the fact it was a first competitive game in seven weeks.

“We have the game under our belt now but the key is we have a home game we have to win,” Tally said.

“This match against Galway now has become our biggest game of the season and we’ll be doing all we can to do that.”

Ciaran McFaul was replaced with a dead leg. Speaking before the Armagh game, Odhrán Lynch and Conor McCluskey may feature before the end of the group stages.

Derry were without Niall Loughin, Lachlan Murray and Martin Bradley. There is a hope they’ll have some in the reckoning for Sunday after indicating nobody was being risked against Armagh if they weren’t ready. Tally also admitted there may well be a mental battle after a run of defeats.

“It’s hard because they’ve trained hard and worked hard but if you’re not winning games it doesn’t matter,” he said.

“You need to be getting results to build that belief. That’s the thing, they could have downed tools there (against Armagh) and said this is like the league match all over again but they didn’t.

“They dug deep and you have to give it to the players. I was immensely proud of their effort there in the second half.”

Looking ahead to Galway, the Derry boss knows exactly what’s coming down the tracks. An All-Ireland contender. A team who could well have been bidding for a third lifting of Sam in four years.

“The bottom line is we played in patches and were good but that’ll not do against Galway,” Tally said.

“They’ll be coming fired up, they lost against Dublin, they’ve had their shock, they’ve had their blow now so you’ll expect a very fired up Galway team.

“We played them in the league; it was a very tight match but I’d imagine it’s a game Galway will be relishing now.”

Last time

2025 – NFL – Derry 0-16 Galway 1-13
THIS is as close to a win as Derry got in 2025 after Lachlan Murray’s inspired performance pulled them back from the depths of despair.
The Oaks had one last chance to win the game but Ethan Doherty’s shot was blocked by John Daly and Derry had to be content with a share of the spoils.
A Dylan McHugh goal helped Pádraic Joyce’s side towards a 1-10 to 0-4 interval lead.
Murray came off the bench to lead Derry back into the game but they just couldn’t finish it off.
Derry: N McNicholl (0-1); D Baker, E McEvoy, M Bradley; C Doherty, B Rogers, D Cassidy; C Glass (0-1), A Tohill; C McFaul, P Cassidy (0-3), E Doherty: B McCarron, S McGuigan (0-8, 3f, 1tpf, N Toner
Subs: L Murray (0-3) for McCarron, M Doherty for D Cassidy, C McMonagle for Toner, P McGrogan for Bradley
Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, L Silke; D McHugh (0-1), J Daly, S Kelly; P Conroy, J Maher (0-1); S O’Neill (0-1), S Walsh (0-8, 2tp, 1tpf, 1f), C D’Arcy (0-1); C Ó Curraoin (0-f), M Tierney (0-1), F Ó Laoí
Subs: R Finnerty for Ó Curraoin, J Heaney for Ó Laoí, K Molloy for O’Neill, D O’Flaherty for D’Arcy
Last five meetings
2025 – NFL – Derry 0-16 Galway 1-13
2024 – SFC – Galway 2-14 Derry 0-15
2024 – NFL – Galway 1-11 Derry 3-10
2022 – SFC – Galway 2-8 Derry 1-6
2022 – NFL – Derry 0-12 Galway 4-11
Season so far
Derry
NFL
Tyrone 2-13 Derry 1-9
Derry 1-24 Kerry 5-15
Derry 0-16 Galway 1-13
Dublin 3-20 Derry 2-12
Donegal 1-22 Derry 1-19
Derry 1-17 Mayo 2-19
Armagh 4-24 Derry 1-18
Ulster SFC
Donegal 1-25 Derry 1-15
All-Ireland SFC
Armagh 2-21 Derry 2-17
Galway
NFL
Galway 1-12 Armagh 0-9
Mayo 0-16 Galway 0-26
Derry 0-16 Galway 1-13
Galway 0-21 Donegal 0-14
Galway 1-18 Tyrone 1-18
Dublin 2-19 Galway 2-13
Galway 2-19 Kerry 3-24
Connacht SFC
New York 0-20 Galway 3-28
Roscommon 0-18 Galway 1-24
Galway 1-17 Mayo 1-15
All-Ireland SFC
Galway 2-14 Dublin 1-18
Top scorers
Derry
Shane McGuigan 1-43 (18f, 5 tpf, 1 tp)
Conor Glass 4-21 (5 tp, 2 45)
Paul Cassidy 0-17 (2 tp)
Galway
Rob Finnerty 2-41 (17f, 3 tp, 1 tpf)
Matthew Tierney 6-19 (3tpf, 1-0 pen, 2m, 2f, 1 tp)
Shane Walsh 1-31 (7 tp, 6 tpf, 1-0 pen, 2f)