‘DERRY MIDFIELD IS BEST IN BUSINESS’

WHEN it comes to running the rule over the other main AllIreland contenders, Brian Fenton says Derry under Mickey Harte — after beating Dublin on penalties in the Division 1 League final — are up there, describing them as a ‘scary’ outfit with the best midfield partnership going.

‘They were very good last year. They’re deadly now though. You could tell from the League final that they have almost every box ticked in terms of their physicality, their fitness, their key players and players coming off the bench. They just seem to have everything that you would want in a team. Obviously with Mickey, they’ve had a great bounce from that. But they were excellent last year. It’s not like they’ve gone to a massively different level. They were at that top table last year.

‘The two lads in midfield, Glass and Rogers, they’re probably the best around, the best in the business realistically. The best partnership anyway that you could probably find in the game. They’re formidable. They’re a scary, scary outfit. We knew going into the League final that it would be tough. You wouldn’t take that League game up there with too much credit with the lads that they had missing. They’re going to be tough and we got our fill of it the last day. It gets you going for the summer and the excitement that there could be.’

As for whether Derry are Dublin’s biggest threat?

‘They’re definitely one of many. Or one of a good few anyway. The chat has quietened a lot on Kerry and I think it’s dangerous to downplay Kerry. They’re an incredible team.

‘Similarly Mayo, we can never seem to get away from Mayo as well. There’s loads of good teams out there but Derry are right up there, of course.

‘You can all see it and any team around the country can see that they’re a class outfit. So it’ll hopefully be good in the summer.’