Bradley: we’re ready for Armagh

DERRY’S footballers have experienced wildly differing fortunes from spring and summer in recent years and Paddy Bradley is hoping that correlation can stretch into a third season as they face into a championship opener against Armagh on Sunday.

Though they finished as Division One champions in 2008 and runners-up 12 months later, the Ulster county saw their form dip appreciably in the subsequent championship campaigns, exiting the provincial campaigns at the semi-final stage.

This year has been different. Though they claimed a comprehensive victory over Tyrone in their opening league game, they suffered five successive defeats before a last-day win away to Galway which failed to keep them safe from the drop.