By Michael McMullan

DESPITE losing to Wicklow earlier in the competition, Derry manager Johnny McGarvey said little has changed as they prepare for Saturday’s clash with Meath in Trim.

Favourites Kerry are on course to reach the final with a number of teams scraping for second spot.

Derry led Meath for much of the league clash earlier in the season before the Royals reeled them in.

When the Christy Ring fixtures came out, Saturday’s game had the feel of a defining afternoon.

“I’m sure Donegal and Wicklow have a totally different way of looking at this,” McGarvey said.

“Even if we had won the Wicklow match, we would still be in the same place, we’d still have to beat Meath.”

Derry led Wicklow for much of their game in Aughrim before being edged by a point in a controversial ending. The Oakleafers had a late score ruled out because of what the referee deemed a throw ball in the closing moments.

It was a similar ending as the league defeat in Meath, another game the Oakleafers lost by a point.

Moving on

“The one thing I’d say we’re very good at, we’re very good at just putting the results behind us and moving on,” McGarvey said.

“As soon as they are done, you do your analysis on them and see where you can fix things.

“We’re just happy to move on straight away and the only focus we have now is down in Trim.”

McGarvey rakes back through recent meetings of the teams. It’s a collection of tight games, separated by the bounce of a ball.

“In my time here, the games with Meath have been very, very close and tight,” he said.

“They probably have a massive turnover of players this year, very much like ourselves.

“The league match played out very tight as well. We felt we should have at least a draw out of it and we didn’t.

“I mean, they have really good players and look, I’m sure they know the same about us.

“We’re excited and we’re looking forward to it, it’s now championship hurling.”