Derry v Dublin preview: A showdown awaits…

By Michael McMullan

BEFORE a ball was kicked in the All-Ireland series, Paddy Tally looked at Derry’s group in two ways.

The ‘Group of Death’ would tell which door Derry, Dublin, Armagh and Galway would be stepping from.

Any team finishing in bottom couldn’t call themselves an All-Ireland contender. Finish in any of the other spots and it was the perfect grounding.

Armagh have made it through the mire. The champions can look ahead.

For Derry and Dublin, Saturday in Newry is the crossroads.

Dessie Farrell’s men have the cloud of 17 wides against Armagh lingering. They’ve the concern of only four of Stephen Cluxton’s first 10 kick-outs finding a blue jersey.

There were the three infractions when less than two players in a half of their own backyard cost them dearly.

On the flipside, the two points they harvested on the back of Cluxton’s last kick-out to Tom Lahiff in Salthill against Galway were gold. Despite being underdogs, they morphed a draw turned into a win.

That’s what Derry must find this weekend. A win. Any kind of a win.

There are signs of a glimmer. The Oaks created seven goal chances against Armagh. Eight if you count Ethan Doherty’s whizzing over the bar effort before half time.

Their zonal approach on kick-outs was picked apart by Ethan Rafferty but their more aggressive press closed down Connor Gleeson.

Add in Brendan Rogers, Dan Higgins and Conor Glass around the middle and Derry were humming nicely. There was a genuine desire. Proper hunger.

“To be honest, we’re really looking forward to Dublin now,” Tally said about Derry’s crunch game.

“We know now how we can play. That’s how Derry can play when they’re on their game and you look forward to playing like that again.

“We showed in the last ten minutes against Armagh what we can do when we really got to the game.”

Derry’s season has been about having different pieces of the puzzle but they were never able to make them all fit. And the gaps hurt them.

The middle of the Dublin game. Late on against Donegal in Ballyshannon. Not hammering the hammer enough in the first half of the championship game.

The car crash in the closing stages of the Kerry game. Three goals that left them brittle until the recent Galway draw.

When Matthew Tierney fisted a second goal, Derry were gazing into the abyss of yet another defeat.

There was composure this time. McKinless found Baker with a kick. Conor Doherty was twice involved in the move. Ruairí Forbes took the right option. Glass cut in and Conor Doherty applied the finish.

“That’s the template now for the way we want to play the rest of the season,” Tally said of the Galway game in the hope their season extends beyond Saturday.

“Dublin, it’ll be a massive challenge for us, but we’re going to look forward to it.”

The question will be availability of Con O’Callaghan this weekend.

His directness is something that changes everything about how Dublin attack.

There is no reverse and that will determine how Derry have to defend.

Odhrán Lynch was in the 26 for the Galway game and it will be interesting to see if he gets the nod for the first time since tearing his quad against Mayo.

Martin Bradley hasn’t played since the Ulster Championship. Conor McCluskey has been back in training but untested at his level.

Lachlan Murray and Niall Loughlin were welcome additions against Galway. Dan Higgins is showing signs he is coming of age.

If you scratch the surface, there are as many questions about Dublin. They’ve lost a lot of experience and been relying on Ciarán Kilkenny’s all-round package with Sean Bugler’s growing punch.

Looking ahead to Newry, it’s not a venue Dublin have been familiar with. You have to go back to Theo Clancy playing in an intense fog for Kilmacud Crokes against Glen as the only player to have played a major game at Páirc Esler.

They’ve still played in big games. All-Ireland finals. That doesn’t go away.

They’ve that solace from how they engineered the Lahiff winner in Salthill.

You can’t buy that.

Derry can do the same with their equaliser against Galway to give them a puncher’s chance this weekend.

There’s nothing that builds confidence like digging a result from the trench. Ask Kieran McGeeney.

Tally knows how valuable their draw was even though it felt like a defeat.

“They (Galway) were a point up,” he said. “Then to create a score from a short kick-out, in the corner, under serious pressure, it says a lot about the team as well.

“It’s all to play for the last match and it’s great to be there, it’s great to have an opportunity now that we can go at it.”

If Derry had a zero in the points’ column going into Páirc Esler, it’s a totally different mental battle.

Paddy Tally felt this group was going to go all the way to the last day. Galway’s greater need would suggest they’ll beat Armagh this weekend. If that’s the case, Derry’s target is simple.

To quote a line from a number by Galway band The Saw Doctors – Derry will be hoping to “win just once.” Galway and Dublin will be hoping they won’t.

This is real championship. This is the game of the weekend. Fasten your seatbelts.

Last time

2025 – NFL – Dublin 3-20 Derry 2-12

DUBLIN eased to victory in the middle game of the NFL campaign at Croke Park with goals from Niall Scully, Conor Tyrrell and Lorcan O’Dell.

Sean Bugler hobbled off injured after kicking six points as the Dubs bounced back from defeat in Tralee.

Dublin led by 1-10 to 0-6 at the interval.

Derry piled on the pressure late on, palming in a goal from Conor Glass and a couple of two-pointers from Paul Cassidy and Shane McGuigan but it was mere consolation.

Dublin: E Comerford (0-1); C Tyrrell (1-0), T Clancy, D Byrne; A Gavin, S MacMahon, C Murphy (0-2); B Howard (0-1), T Lahiff; S Bugler (0-6), N Scully (1-2), K Lahiff; N O’Callaghan, E O’Donnell, L Breathnach (0-4)
Subs: C O’Callaghan (0-4, 1tp) for N O’Callaghan, L O’Dell (1-0) for O’Donnell, S Lowry for K Lahiff, D Keogh for Bugler, P Ó Cofaigh Byrne for Breathnach

Derry: N McNicholl; D Baker, E McEvoy, M Bradley; C Doherty, B Rogers (1-0), D Cassidy (0-1); C Glass (1-0), A Tohill; B McCarron, P Cassidy (0-3, 1 tp), C McMonagle (0-1); E Doherty, S McGuigan (0-7, 2tpf, 3f), N Toner
Subs: C McGrogan for Toner, L Murray for C McGrogan, P McGrogan for D Cassidy, N Loughlin for McCarron, M Doherty for McMonagle

Last five meetings
2025 – NFL – Dublin 3-20 Derry 2-12
2024 – NFL– Dublin 2-21 Derry 3-18 AET (Derry won on pens)
2024 – NFL – Derry 1-11 Dublin 1-16
2023 – NFL – Dublin 4-6 Derry 0-11
2023 – NFL – Derry 1-11 Dublin 0-14

Season so far

Derry

NFL
Tyrone 2-13 Derry 1-9
Derry 1-24 Kerry 5-15
Derry 0-16 Galway 1-13
Dublin 3-20 Derry 2-12
Donegal 1-22 Derry 1-19
Derry 1-17 Mayo 2-19
Armagh 4-24 Derry 1-18

Ulster SFC
Donegal 1-25 Derry 1-15

All-Ireland SFC
Armagh 2-21 Derry 2-17
Derry 2-20 Galway 4-14

Dublin

NFL
Dublin 1-17 Mayo 1-15
Donegal 0-20 Dublin 0-16
Kerry 1-15 Dublin 0-19
Dublin 3-20 Derry 2-12
Armagh 1-20 Dublin 1-12
Dublin 2-19 Galway 2-13
Tyrone 2-20 Dublin 1-16

Leinster SFC
Wicklow 0-18 Dublin 2-21
Meath 0-23 Dublin 1-16

All-Ireland SFC
Galway 2-14 Dublin 1-18
Dublin 0-19 Armagh 0-24

Top scorers

Derry
Shane McGuigan 1-47 (19f, 6tpf, 1tp)
Conor Glass 5-24 (5tp, 3 45)
Paul Cassidy 0-20 (3tp)

Dublin
Sean Bugler 2- 31 (2tp, 1f)
Con O’Callaghan 2-30 (4tp, 5f, 1tpf)
Cormac Costello 2-26 (7f, 3tp, 2tpf, 1 45)