Derry planning without Rogers ahead of crucial Mayo clash

By Michael McMullan

DERRY face into Sunday’s crucial NFL visit of Mayo without All-Star Brendan Rogers.

The reigning champions must secure a first win of the season if they are to stand a chance of extending their stay in the top-flight to a third season.

In an interview with Gaelic Life, manager Paddy Tally said the ankle injury sustained in the second half of their defeat to Donegal in Ballyshannon will rule him out.

Rogers, who made his Derry debut when Tally was involved in 2015 under manager Brian McIver, has 96 senior appearances in to go with this 25 games for the senior hurlers.

Also on the injury front, it will be a waiting game this week on defender Eoin McEvoy who also forced off in the same game.

His Rossa clubmate Conor McCluskey is unlikely to feature with his recovery from a groin operation taking longer than anticipated.

The plus points from the Donegal game were returns first starts for Lachlan Murray, Paudi McGrogan and Niall Loughlin.

While Derry are missing players through injury, the u-20s will be kept entirely with their own age group ahead of the upcoming Ulster Championship.

In the short term, it’s about getting a performance this weekend against Mayo as they battle to stay in Division One. There are other permutations but Derry’s focus hasn’t changed.

“That has been the way we’ve looked at it all along,” Tally said. “We’ve been very much focused on what we’re doing and how we’re performing.

“We’ve been introducing players and getting to know players, they’ve been getting to know us.

“Our focus has never really gone beyond that. The same will be this weekend. Our primary focus and our full focus will be on how we perform against Mayo.

“We thought, we played pretty well the last day (against Donegal). I wouldn’t say it was perfect by any means, but there definitely was a good improvement from the Dublin match.”