QUESTION; ARE DERRY THE REAL DEAL?

WILL tomorrow deliver rain or blue skies? Like the weather in this part of the world, you might hope for sunshine but common sense says you should always bring your brolly (no pun intended).

Derry are the most infuriating team in the country come the summer. One cursory glance at their record this past five seasons is ample evidence of that.

Since reaching the All-Ireland semi-final in 2004 the Ulster side have accounted for Monaghan, Tyrone, Armagh and Donegal and yet they haven’t even made a single Ulster final. They have run Dublin to within one score in front of a blue-soaked Croke Park on All-Ireland quarter-final day and lost to Longford in a qualifier in front of a fraction of that crowd in Pearse Park.

Dr Jekyll? Meet Mr Hyde.

They open for business this time under new ownership with Damien Cassidy having assumed the reins from Paddy Crozier.

Cassidy’s Derry are different. They look fitter, something which could prove vital for a team that has lost a clutch of key games by a handful of points in the recent past.

Cassidy hasn’t been afraid to hand a number of players their P45s and he has sought to hatch a gameplan that doesn’t rely completely on lumping it in long for Paddy Bradley.

And yet questions remain. Goalkeeper Barry Gillis has remarked on how Derry have lost out on the physical battles in recent seasons and they still seem light on numbers in defence.

So, is this a new and improved model?

“I wouldn’t like to say,” says defender Gerard O’Kane. “It would be disrespectful to past managers to say that, but we are definitely a more mature panel, a more experienced panel, and hopefully that will stand to us.”

They will need every ounce of that newfound nous just to make the Ulster final this year. First up on Sunday week are Monaghan, who have beaten them twice this year, albeit by a combined total of three points.

At least Derry will have home advantage in Celtic Park for that one. Win that and the survivors of the heavyweight bout between Tyrone and Armagh await at a semi-final stage where Derry have found the canvas four times in four years. It is statistics like that which suggests that this Derry’s team greatest battle is the one raging in their own heads.

Ask O’Kane a simple question about what the difference might be between winning an Ulster title this year and failing in years gone by, and his slightly tetchy response makes it clear that a nerve has been touched.

“You are thinking a lot further ahead than me right now, pal. I’m not thinking about winning Ulster right now. Tyrone and Armagh have won the last ten. We haven’t even got to the final. We have no right to be thinking about winning Ulster just yet.”

It is 10 long seasons since they last reached the provincial decider, 12 since they won it. Another back door adventure would mean little to them now. As Elvis would say: it’s now or never.