Shane McGuigan of Derry in action against Paddy Maguire of Leitrim during the Allianz Football League Division 4 Final.
By John Harrington
There’s no substitute for winning, and that’s why Derry attacker Shane McGuigan believes their flawless Allianz Football League Division Four campaign is the perfect preparation for the Ulster Football Championship.
Victory over Leitrim in Saturday’s Final was the Oak Leaf County’s eight in succession, and they arguably saved their best performance for last as they outclassed the spirited Connacht side.
Tyrone will obviously present a much stiffer challenge on May 12 when the teams meet in the preliminary round of the Ulster SFC, but Derry will now go into that match full of confidence.
“Definitely, you can't discard the way we've played out there today, we scored 20 points,” said McGuigan. “Maybe only three frees, so 17 from play is pretty good.
“A couple of goal chances. We knew in the second-half that we could have managed the game better, we let them into it a bit when we reflect on it, but, going undefeated, you have to be happy.
“It's a good statement to make coming into the Championship and we'll be going in with confidence.
“They (Tyrone) were All-Ireland finalists last year and we'll go in as underdogs but you'd never know what can happen on Championship day. We fear nothing, we know we have improvements to make and I'm just excited now for that game in May.”
McGuigan was Derry’s Man of the Match on Saturday, kicking six points in total, five from play.
The Derry players celebrate after victory over Leitrim in the Allianz Football League Division 4 Final.
But it says a lot about the standards he sets for himself that after the match his thoughts turned to a chance he missed when he struck the upright with a very kickable point chance.
“Oh aye, definitely, look, I know if I get a chance like that in the Championship I'm going to have to nail it,” he said.
“That's the improvement we have to all make in our games, there were a few wasted opportunities in the second-half that should have killed the game off.
“We know we have a lot of improvements to make if we want to give Tyrone a game in May.”
Derry were hot favourites at the outset of the campaign to win promotion, but there was never any complacency within a group of players who look like they are now developing a real unity of purpose.
“You see that was a big thing, we were going to get no praise for winning Division 4 so we knew that we just had to do our own thing,” said McGuigan.
“People can say or talk about whatever they want but that group of players in our dressing-room, they're all that matters. We've got the trophy and that's all we have to say now.
“We set out our stall to go undefeated in the league and we did that. We took every team (seriously), we didn't overlook them, we treated them as if they were Tyrone and it stood to us there today.
“Leitrim had some quality forwards but we knew that if we put the pressure on them we could win and thankfully we did that.”
