RORY Gallagher was a determined player when he played county football for Fermanagh.

He racked up huge scores against opponents, and his 3-9 against Monaghan in the 2002 Ulster series stands as a record in championship football.

So he understands from a personal point of view the dedication and determination that is needed to win. That is a message he has passed on to his Derry team ahead of their Ulster Championship opener against Donegal.

“Derry have to have a relentless attitude to improve. They have got an attitude of putting the team first, putting Derry first in the sense they have to commit to being the best that they can be as a team.

“I am happy that we are going in that direction. Now we have to go out and mix it with the big boys. No disrespect to the teams in Division Three and Cavan was a good barometer, but we just have to play big games against the heavy-hitters to get more momentum.”

Gallagher said that he says there is potential for the Derry team to be very successful. The county have been starved of Ulster Championship success. They haven’t won a title since 1998, and their last Ulster final appearance was in 2011 when a Donegal team, of which Rory Gallagher was an assistant, beat them well.

Gallagher says that this current Derry crop can end the drought.

“I think we have the ability to be one of the top teams in the country. The players that we have shouldn’t have been in Division Three. The division was a false reading. I wouldn’t have been happy if we hadn’t been able to get out of Division Three, and as comfortably as we did.

“I think we can be Ulster champions with the team that we have but we have to start proving it. Derry haven’t won a championship match since 2015 so they have a very poor record. These players want to start winning Ulster Championships and they have to stand up and be counted against Donegal.”

Gallagher’s tenure as Derry manager did not go to plan. He took over in 2019, and the aim was getting promotion out of Division Three in 2020, but results did not go their way as they drew with Leitrim in their opener and then lost to Down.

Covid-19 then struck and the league was put on hold and when they returned the chance disappeared as the teams ahead of them in the league pulled away.

But this year, things have went to plan for the Fermanagh man’s team.

“It takes time to get to know personnel and it takes time to get the backroom team and get the people involved who are best to give the team the opportunity to improve.

“Even to get to know the players. When Covid hit last year it was an opportunity for us to reflect and to get this ship steered in a better direction. I wasn’t happy with the way we were going, or the way the set up was. I feel now we are going in the right direction.

“Getting promotion was the goal, but at the end of the day the league is the league.

“The goal in Derry is to be Ulster champions, that is what Derry want to be. The don’t want to be a league team as such.”

Brendan Rogers’s hamstring is still an issue for Derry, but Gallagher is making sure that the Sleacht Néill player will have enough time to be ready for this weekend’s game against Donegal. It is a Donegal team that he is very familiar with as he managed them four years ago, after Jim McGuinness left and before Declan Bonner took over in the current tenure.

“Over the past 10 years Donegal, like Kerry and Mayo, have been relentless machines. They are very well-oiled. Very seldom do they slip up.

“Naturally Donegal will have been disappointed how the Ulster final went last year. I just feel that they were going to arrive at the championship in good shape. That’s the way that they are.”

Gallagher said that Donegal’s win over Down highlighted their machine-like nature.

“I wasn’t shocked with the way they played. They have a very definitive way of playing. We are just looking forward to it.

“Donegal have been consistent for a long time. They have been relatively consistent during the league.

“They are playing well and putting up big scores they are in good shape and they are a very formidable team.”

FOCUSED… Derry manager Rory Gallagher says his team can mix it with the best in Ireland