THE OAK TAKING ROOT NOW
Mcguigan reckons Gallagher is building a proper platform for Derry to thrive
FAMILIARITY can breed contempt but, after years of upheaval in Derry, it’s what Shane Mcguigan craves.
Three title, their second promotion in three seasons, there’s a momentum about Derry football that hasn’t been apparent for some time and while they enter Sunday’s Ulster quarterfinal against Donegal as underdogs, they travel to Ballybofey with hope.
The Oak Leaf men went from contesting a Division One League final in 2014 to being relegated to Division Four in 2018, a period that took in three different managers before Rory Gallagher’s appointment less than two years ago. Hardly the backdrop to building a settled squad.
“For as long as I’ve been here, there have been new faces in and out the door every year – different players starting on Championship day and different players starting on League day,” says ace forward
Mcguigan. “There hasn’t been that whole team cohesion that everybody is looking for. When you are playing with different players constantly you can’t build the relationships on the field to know what each player’s style of play is.
“So that has hindered Derry in the past. It’s something Rory has said he’s looking to rectify.
“He has a five-year plan here and he says every player that is up here at the minute, he expects them to be here for the full five years, maybe with a couple of new faces coming in once or twice a year.
“The main thing would be the longer this team stays together the better opportunities we will get.”
Attracting someone as experienced as the former Donegal and Fermanagh boss is something that enthused Mcguigan, but he says “you need to be pretty thickskinned playing under Rory”.
He explained: “When he was appointed the first emotion was excitement. Rory’s managed the likes of Michael Murphy and Paddy Mcbrearty, household names across the country, so I was excited to see what he would bring to the table.
“He showed me a statistic last year of what my accuracy was and it wasn’t good, so he demanded I put a lot more emphasis on the skills of scoring.
“He put that pressure on me and it’s probably the first time I’ve been challenged in that regard. I like getting that push. He’s probably done the same with Murphy and Mcbrearty, so I would be a fool not to listen to him.”