‘Mickey Harte doesn’t take a backwards step, even in the McKenna Cup - McGuinness 

Jim McGuinness doesn’t believe there will be any stealth to the way Mickey Harte or Derry approach Saturday’s McKenna Cup final clash with Donegal. 

Harte has always taken the much-maligned pre-season competition seriously. And even though the Ulster champions are fated to meet Donegal in that hugely anticipated provincial opener in late April, the weekend’s tangle will still have some spark attached to it. 

“It’s a great game for us, Derry are the Ulster champions, going for three-in-a-row, Mickey Harte doesn’t take a backward step when it comes to the McKenna Cup,” said McGuinness on that clash with the Oak Leafers.  

“We know what we’re gonna get there. Mickey has been preparing his team for the first division, we’ve been preparing ours for the second division, but it’ll give us both a good runout against each other”.

It’s another competitive seventy minutes for the manager and his side. And even though it’s just a week out from their NFL Division 2 opener with Cork in Ballybofey, McGuinness expects it to have a competitive edge 

“Cork are climbing that ladder really, really quickly, so that’s going to be a challenge for us and we need to be ready for that.

“As a manager, you wouldn’t be comfortable that all the boxes are ticked so we are just trying to squeeze as much as we can into the pre-season as possible, look at as many players as we can.

“Listen, we are getting to know people still, who can do what. It’s all good like. We are happy with the lads that we have. We are happy with where we are at. But we know we have a lot of work to do.

“We have a hell of a  lot of work to do. Derry are… even though Mickey has just come in, they are sort of a finely tuned machine. They know what they are about.

“They know what they want to do and how to do it. They have really good players and a massive belief in what they do.

“So even their game last night against Armagh, you are looking at it. The communication level, they don’t do panic.

“They know where they should be. They know the gaps they need to be covering. They trust themselves and back themselves.

“That’s where we want to get to. We want to try and climb that ladder and get to that point as well at some stage in the future.”

With that Rebel test looming on the horizon, a McKenna Cup final win would represent real momentum going into the NFL. 

“Ah listen, you will never turn down a victory. You know what I mean, and we will be going out to win the game, absolutely. But we have to be conscious of where we are at and who has done what in pre-season, who has done x amount of minutes.

“And sort of put all them things into play and obviously looking at the game the week after as well. We will be going there positively and going there looking forward to the game.

“And Derry are great opponents. We couldn’t get a better opponent in many respects a week out from the Cork match. We will just try and enjoy the game if we can.”

In regards to team selection for Derry, and how the proximity to Cork might affect that, he explained: “It will have an influence. The medical will come into it. Who needs what will come into it and then the game itself. 

“It is always very tempting to try and have this team and try and have that team, and work towards a team.

“But the reality is we just have to try and be smart and make sure everybody gets the best opportunity not just for next weekend but for the weekend after”.