CHRISTY RING CUP FINAL

Derry v Offaly

Sunday, Croke Park, 1pm

By Niall Gartland

GO out and leave nothing to chance. That’s the message of Derry joint-manager Dominic ‘Woody’ McKinley to his players ahead of Sunday’s Christy Ring Cup final against raging-hot favourites Offaly.

Offaly have been through some lean times of late, but they’ve been dishing out hammerings left, right and centre this year and they’re expected to complete a league and championship double at Croke Park this Sunday.

But it would be a pretty boring world indeed if the favourites always prevailed, and Derry have a swathe of experienced players who are accustomed to playing in games of huge significance – their Sleacht Néill contingent, obviously, and it was only four years ago that the county team won the Nickey Rackard final.

Joint-manager McKinley is hardly lacking experience either, and most recently he was involved with the Sleact Néill camogie team which won three All-Ireland titles in-a-row.

So who knows what might happen if they play to their potential this weekend.

“It does help that I’ve been through this before – even in terms of dealing with traveling and getting the timing right.

“We’ll try to organise things down to a tee, and you pass on all the experience you have. One of the most important things is to enjoy the week in the lead up to the final. Leave worrying to other people, try to get your mind right and deliver a performance.

“We’ll be looking a performance from every individual player, and if they do that, who knows what might happen.”

But McKinley knows they’ll need to be on their form from the opening whistle to stand any chance of upsetting the odds. They were reasonably impressive in their 0-28 to 2-17 victory over Sligo, with players like captain Cormac O’Doherty, Gerald Bradley, Se McGuigan, Richie Mullan, Meehaul McGrath just some of the players who stood out, but they also had to dig deep to withstand a concerted Sligo fightback in the second half.

McKinley said: “It’s been a good campaign for us. We hadn’t beaten Wicklow in 11 years and we beat them well. Then we didn’t know a pile about Sligo. In phases we played well, but if we step off the pedal against Offaly like we did against Sligo, we’ll be in trouble big time.

“We need 70 minutes of total concentration. If we manage that then who knows, and there’s no doubt they have the potential to play at the level required, but we need to get stuck in right from the start.”

The Oak Leafers are also praying that corner-back Conor McAllister will be passed fit after hurting his knee against Sligo, forcing him to leave the pitch after only 25 minutes.

“He jerked his knee and there’s a big concern about how bad it is. He’s set to have a scan on Wednesday (yesterday). We’re concerned first and foremost for him personally as he loves his hurling and football. He’s a very good corner-back. He just hope it’s not that bad, that it isn’t his cruciate, but at this point in time he’s a major doubt.”

The Antrim native also says it’s great to see four Ulster hurling sides (Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Cavan) competing in national finals at Croke Park this weekend.

“It’s good for the province surely. It brings a bit of energy to things. It doesn’t happen by chance either, there’s been a lot of hard work done at club level in Ulster, so it speaks volumes that there’s such a good representation in the finals. Ulster hurling needs a bit of a lift, and you need a wee break every now and again. It’s great for the youngsters, hopefully they’ll see this and realise that one day they’ll be able to play in Croke Park if they put in the effort.”