With the Bank of Ireland Ulster football final upon us in Clones tomorrow, this is looking like the year Derry finally re-establish themselves. After a decade in which the county has embarked on most Ulster championships as favourites, the haul has been remarkably meagre - just one five years ago although it did lead to an All-Ireland.
There was every chance that Armagh could have extended Derry's poor strike-rate in this year's semi-final, but their nerve frayed in the closing minutes and the opportunity was lost. There was nonetheless evidence that Derry are in better shape this year than they have been for a while in the Ulster championship.
The team appeared to have more tactical options and shuffled personnel around to reasonable effect with the result that tomorrow's line-up is an improvement on the semi-final's. This is partly due to the expiry of Joe Cassidy's suspension and Gary Coleman's full recovery from injury but it is also a reflection of panel strength.
Dermot Heaney, one of the survivors of the All-Ireland triumph who hasn't been in great form recently, has been replaced not because he had to go but because Enda Muldoon made a better case for inclusion in the second half against Armagh.
This isn't to say that Derry have solved all their problems. The defence remains vulnerable to a fast-moving, physical attack and its looseness the last day wasn't fully punished. in McConville availed of none of his three early goal opportunities.
In the main, Derry will need to concentrate on Tony Boyle, Donegal's consistently impressive full forward. With a decent supply of ball and space, he will damage any team, even Derry, for whom Sean Martin Lockhart has been in form. But as Cavan indicated in the early stages of their semi-final, if the distribution lines can be disrupted, Boyle's effectiveness is greatly reduced. Similarly, Manus Boyle will kick points if the ball is teed up for him but won't forage. The rest of the attack has yet to convince at championship level and so the two survivors of 1992, Donegal's last Ulster win, will have to carry the burden of scoring.
Martin Coll and Noel Hegarty switch in a move that brings Hegarty back to his best position as defensive pivot and Coll to midfield.
Derry's midfield hasn't been punching its weight for a while. For Donegal, Jimmy McGuinness has had a good year but his roving and frenetic style does not suit directing traffic in the sector. On paper Derry's full-forward line is lethal but Cavan demonstrated last year that they too can be starved into inaction. Donegal would want to mark a bit tighter than Armagh who allowed Dermot Dougan too much room - which resulted in two goals for the centre forward - and also failed to cope with Seamus Downey, who punished the laxity in the decisive closing phase.
If there is a reason to doubt Donegal, whose style has troubled Derry throughout the 1990s, it is that the team lacks enough quality to inflict their short game on an opposition with both the physical strength and the manual of instructive memories to hit the target this time.
Derry: E McCloskey; K McKeever, SM Lockhart, G Coleman; D O'Neill, H Downey, P McFlynn; A Tohill, E Muldoon; G McGill, D Dougan, E Burns; J Brolly, S Downey, J Cassidy.
Donegal: T Blake; B McGowan, JJ Doherty, M Crossan; D Diver, N Hegarty, N McGinley; J McGuinness, M Coll; J Duffy, A Sweeney, J Gildea; M Boyle, T Boyle, B Devenney.
