Time for Derry to deliver in Ulster

SEVEN of Ulster’s nine counties will be hoping that the new decade of championship football which kicks off this weekend will usher in a new, more democratic era in the province.

While Armagh and Tyrone were divvying up titles over the last ten years, Derry were lurching from one early exit to another. Since reaching the final in 2000 they have fallen foul of seven semi-finals. Their other two campaigns resulted in defeats in the first round in 2003 and the preliminary round stage a year later.

Kevin McGuckin was honesty personified in assessing the detritus of the noughties.