McGuinness relief as injured Donegal duo return

Jim McGuinness says Michael Murphy and Rory Kavanagh are “in the picture” to play for Donegal in tomorrow night’s Ulster SFC tie against Derry.

Kavanagh, man of the match in the win over Cavan four weeks ago, picked up an ankle injury in a club game while Murphy hasn’t played since sustaining a medial knee ligament injury in a league match against Dublin three months ago.

The Donegal boss is renowned for keeping his intended starting 15 under wraps until before throw-in, but regardless of what team is announced, it seems the key duo are close to a return.

“We are fortunate to have a number of players who are long-term injured and are now back training and building up their fitness,” said McGuinness. “Michael and Rory are back in the picture.”

Meanwhile, Derry defender Gerard O’Kane says his injury problems are finally behind him after missing out on a lot of football in the last 12 months, which robbed him of the chance to play against Donegal in an Ulster final last year.

After suffering a knee injury in the McKenna Cup final against Tyrone in January, he subsequently missed most of the league action too.

“I came back a bit too early after a couple of rounds of the league and maybe that’s why I got injured again,” he admitted. “This time I have taken my time and stuck to my own schedule. I feel stronger than I did before I came back the last time.”

Derry struggled to stay in Division 2 this year, having initially set their sights on promotion back to the top flight. But O’Kane isn’t too bothered and insisted: “I have played in enough campaigns to know a bad league campaign doesn’t mean the championship will be the same.

“We won the league in 2008 and maybe we should have kicked on and won an Ulster title but we didn’t.”