Rory Gallagher: Ulster win better than Donegal in 2011, tight-knit Derry camp and All-Ireland quarters

'We have an awful lot of brothers and cousins within our squad as well. We feel it is very unique to ourselves and we have a very small panel, it’s something that we harness,' said Gallagher.

Derry manager Rory Gallagher during the Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship Final between Derry and Donegal at St Tiernach's Park in Clones, Monaghan. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

DERRY manager Rory Gallagher has admitted the unusual make-up of his panel has been a bonus for the way they have been able to prepare this season.

Looking at the starting line-up for the Ulster final, the vast majority of players, indeed all but Gareth McKinless, are from a handful of clubs dotted around the town of Maghera. Indeed, some are even jokingly referring to the county team now as ‘Greater Maghera.’ The outlier is Gareth McKinless of Ballinderry, which is a mere 16 miles away.

Such closeness, however, is something Gallagher has chosen to embrace and it has led to them having early evening sessions at their training base of Owenbeg.

“We have an awful lot of brothers and cousins within our squad as well. We feel it is unique to ourselves and we have a very small panel, it’s something that we harness,” said the native of Fermanagh as they prepare for Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Clare.

“Logistically, it makes things an awful lot easier. We’re training at half five on a Friday evening. Very few teams can do that and it allows the boys the evening to themselves and then they can meet up separately. I suppose it shows the appetite for football in that area and there are a serious number of very good clubs back-boning it.

“It’s a goal of Derry to grow that over time, to develop county footballers from different parts of the county. But we try to harness that I suppose with the spirit that it brings.” 

Gallagher and his players have talked of a deep fulfillment having won the first provincial title in 24 years for Derry. 

But they are hungry for more. 

A four-week gap from the Ulster final to this weekend allowed them to mark their achievement, but it was parked at the dressing room door when they resumed training later that week.

“They are an unbelievably level-headed group of lads. We are very much backboned by Glen, Maghera and Slaughtneil players, they have a huge influence. And they are relatively accustomed to success,” said Gallagher.

“Maybe not at county level, but they are very much, ‘let’s enjoy this for what it is, and then move on here.’ 

“The other side of it is, they wouldn’t be allowed to be anything else. We would show strong leadership that we would get back down and back to training. At the end of the day, Ulster is brilliant and in Ulster we very much value it.

“But, Dublin will win Leinster, Kerry will win Munster and Galway win Connacht, it is only a means to an end to an All-Ireland quarter-final. And that’s the same for us.” 

The obvious comparison for Derry is the feat of Donegal coming in 2011 to win their first Ulster title in 19 years, when Gallagher was in his first year of intercounty management, assisting Jim McGuinness.

While this was not his first year with Derry, it feels sort of like that given the interruptions that Covid brought.

But Gallagher would argue the case that this achievement by Derry in beating Tyrone, Monaghan and Donegal to win the Anglo-Celt, counts as a great achievement than 2011.

“We beat much better-quality opposition than Donegal did and we played to a better level than Donegal did at that time. But I can understand the elation and the high that clubs, communities and the county is on, and families,” he said.

“I was there in 2011, it seems like a very long time ago, but it brought a massive connection with GAA people in their communities and I see it coming now in Derry, with the support ferocious.” 

The Derry support, for so long dormant, has been mobilised, feeding off this team.

“At the start of the year you want to get to Clones on Ulster final day and then you want to get into Croke Park and play in an All-Ireland series,” Gallagher sets out. “It’s strange this year because you are not even at the height of the summer yet. Kids are not off school or anything like that.

“To get an opportunity now to play a game in July and be at the forefront of our sport is what we all want to be doing, you want to be at the cutting edge of it.

“Unless you are Dublin, Kerry and to a lesser extent Mayo, you don’t become accustomed to it or used to it.” 

He adds, “It’s something people have to very much enjoy the moments that we are in but also make the most of it. Because it’s a very difficult place to get back to. We see Man City, for all their money they find it hard to get back to the semi-finals and finals of the Champion’s League.

“You can never take anything for granted and the opportunity to play a quarter-final in Croke Park is an opportunity for everybody.”