By Michael McMullan

DERRY minors will have to be at their very best in Saturday’s Ulster semi-final against Donegal in Find Insurance Owenbeg.

That’s the take of manager Kieran Glackin who was in Convoy to watch Donegal dig victory from the jaws of defeat against league champions last weekend.

It took a late burst for Derry to snatch victory when the sides met in the league at the same venue during the league.

The common theme among minor managers has been about how open the field is.

Glackin sees Donegal as title contenders but puts his Derry side in that category too.

“They are a strong team, they are going to take a lot of beating,” he said. “We will have to be really on our game to beat them, they are serious contenders for the competition.

“We will see ourselves as that also. We can win the game but we will have to be at our very best.”

Two goals from Joey Mullan were key when Derry won the league game between the teams in windy conditions. Glackin hopes better conditions will make for a free-flowing game this weekend.

He has been involved with the group since their days with the development squad. It’s his second season as minor manager and says there is a collective focus within the group.

“They are a very hard working group and we would massively put an onus on that it is the group first before the individual,” he said.

“They have bonded very, very well. You are only as good as your last game and we do feel there is a good group that can be contenders for the competition, but there is a lot of good teams in it.”

Derry have improved their fortunes at minor level over the last decade after falling off, winning just two championship games between the 2007 All-Ireland final and the team Conor Glass captained to the 2015 Ulster title.

“I think there are 12 of the boys in our team who the brothers have won in All-Ireland, the last two (minor) All-Irelands or from five years ago.

“Those boys have siblings in the house with All-Ireland medals, so it comes with its own bit of pressure but every team has to stand its own merit.”

Glackin credits the clubs and schools in the county for developing players that can challenge for minor titles.

While there is the prize of an Ulster final up for grabs on Saturday afternoon, there is also the carrot of a passage into the All-Ireland quarter final.

“It is an incredibly big game for the boys,” Glackin said. “We definitely don’t want to fall at this hurdle.

“Our reward for winning the first two (Ulster Championship) games was that we’ve been sitting in the semi-final for three weeks waiting.

“We spent that time to really prepare ourselves well. For our two games, Donegal have had four championship games.”

Glackin sounded the warning on Louth and Dublin waiting in the semi-final but were nipped. It was the same in Ulster level at U20 wehre Monaghan and Tyrone reached the final despite finishing third in their groups.

“We are very aware of that and we have concentrated hard on preparing ourselves before we knew who we were going to play,” Glackin said.

“Now we have turned our concentration on Donegal, so it is a massive game. It opens up an Ulster final and it opens up your summer to be able to compete for an All-Ireland.”