Chrissy McKaigue: I still feel Derry are a contender for Sam Maguire
CONTENDER: Chrissy McKaigue believes Derry can win the All Ireland this year. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Former Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue says talk of them 'dropping off the edge of a cliff' in the last 12 months is misleading and inaccurate.
Derry will face Dublin on Saturday evening in a crucial All-Ireland SFC Group 4 encounter, a repeat of the 2024 National League final.
Derry won that league decider but have picked up just two wins from 16 league and championship outings since then, with one of those wins coming after a penalty shoot-out.
Under Paddy Tally in 2025, Derry have yet to win a game with two draws - both against Galway - from 10 games, costing them their Division 1 place and leaving them scrapping now for their Championship survival.
Ex-defender McKaigue, who retired last November, said the reality is that Derry are still 'a contender for Sam Maguire' though he acknowledged that it doesn't seem as likely now as it may have midway through 2024.
Speaking at the launch of the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor championships, McKaigue noted that all of Derry's games this year have been 'played against Division 1 standard teams, or actually Division 1 teams'.
"It depends on your definition of dropping off the edge of a cliff," said McKaigue when asked if he could have imagined Derry's results plummeting as they have.
"Expectation is a wonderful thing and it's often created by a world outside of the (team) bubble itself.
"We won the National League title last year, Division 1, that was no mean feat in my opinion. Now did Derry fail in terms of expectation in the Championship? Absolutely, but there has been a narrative created that Derry's senior footballers had the worst season ever.
"I can accurately remember many more poor years for Derry in the Championship than last year yet last year was sort of built up into this catastrophe of a year. It was moreso that we didn't meet expectations.
"I'm not saying that everyone follows that narrative but it's amazing that narrative was sort of depicted in so many areas and I felt Mickey Harte got a lot of scrutiny that was a wee bit over the top at times.
"To answer your question fully, I still feel that Derry are a contender for Sam Maguire. Maybe not this year in the same capacity as last year but do I feel that the Derry squad will have the potential to be a contender for Sam Maguire in the next number of years? I do."
Slaughtneil man McKaigue said Derry deserved to have beaten Galway last time out, eventually finishing in stalemate.
"Galway found a way to come back and, looking from the outside, you're thinking, 'Right, the performance was good, Niall Loughlin is back in contention again, a few other boys are very close to coming back, Odhran Lynch, so they could really push on'.
"But the worrying thing for Derry still is that they have played seven games in the league, Donegal in the Ulster championship and two games in the round robin. That's 10 games and they still haven't won a game yet.
"They'd want to be clearing that one out fairly soon."
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