The Derry hurlers could have their strongest panel ever this year, and that’s good news for new manager Dominic McKinley.

The former Antrim player and manager was appointed to the Oak Leaf job last year along with Cormac Donnelly and has high hopes for the potential of the team. He says that Derry could have their best year ever precisely because the squad will  be stronger. However, he’s not taking any credit for it happening.

“There is huge potential for Derry this year. In previous years Derry did not have their strongest squad out for whatever reason. We think that we can get all the best players out to play this year. This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the split season that the GAA have implemented, it means that more players will come out and play for Derry because they can come out and focus on one thing and then they can go back and focus on their club when the county season is over. That is a big factor. The league will go from February to April and then the Christy Ring will run on in May. So after that they will be able to go back to their clubs.

“I see that as a massive bonus for us as it means players will be focused.”

However, the county team face a challenge at the moment, the same challenge as every other team in the country. There is no collective training, and they can only meet virtually.

“There is a plan in place. We have only met on Zoom calls. But we have a back room in place, and the players are doing the work.

“It’s hard not being able to put a name to the faces. I’d like to start to get to know the players. A lot of them I know, but there are some that I don’t. We need to get to know them.”

McKinley said that he has put his faith in his strength and conditioning coach Eunan McNicholl who has put together training plans for each of the players. Those plans will set out a course of training that will prepare the players for the upcoming league campaign which is due to start at the end of February.

“He (Eunan) is the most importat part of my back room team at the moment. He will keep their fitness up while we are not allowed to collectively train. Hopefully we will be back out on the field soon.”

McKinley didn’t make any clear indications of who will exactly be on his panel, though he did say that it would be backboned by Sleacht Néill and Kevin Lynch’s players, the two teams who competed in last year’s county final.

The challenge for those players is trying to improve on last year. The county had a frustrating season as they missed out on promotion when they lost to Down in the Division 2B final. Then in the Christy Ring cup they were defeated by Down again, and then Offaly put them out.Don’t expect any dramatic changes in the way they are going to play though. McKinley said that the style of hurling will remain similar. However, he said that he and Donnelly do want to do things their way.

“Every coach has their own style. Our style is going to be slightly different. We are going to have fierce amount of work to do. We want to get all the players out and playing for each other. If the players come out, and respond to that, and put their shoulder to the wheel then we have great potential. But we have to think outside the box.”