Neighbourly Love

It's only a league game. Only March. Just a kickabout as the lingering air of winter finally breathes its last. Experimentation still abound as the Championship grows nearer. The performance is more important than the result.

Forget all that. This is Tyrone. And as Damian Cassidy correctly says in today's Irish News, "This is a derby game and there’s not an inch asked or given. It wouldn’t matter if it’s a challenge match, League or Championship game – that’s the way these matches are."

So, Saturday evening's game at Omagh could be described as an important battle in the midst of a rather insignificant NFL war. With Derry already assured of Division 1 football next year, Cassidy is placing all the pressure on the O'Neill county ahead of this game:

"I suppose the pressure is on Tyrone because they need the points a lot more than we do, so therefore you’d expect Tyrone to come out with all guns blazing and going for the jugular because two points will probably be enough to leave them comfortable."

The pressure may be off Derry, but make no mistake, the Oakleafers will be going out all guns blazing themselves once David Coldrick throws the ball in at Healy Park. The fans that travel across the Sperrins would expect nothing else. They will remember fondly the trip to the same venue in 2006, when Derry outplayed the then All-Ireland Champions. The only regret was that they were All-Ireland Champions at all. And they can claim a similar status this time around. Hopefully the Oakleafers can produce a similar result to leave our dearest neighbours sweating in a relegation battle.

In the media this week there has been talk aplenty of last year's NFL meeting between the two sides. Given how the season panned out for both teams, it is understandable that Derry's four-point win at Celtic Park had been forgotten. But it has reared it's head as the weekend approaches, and, as it turns out, the Tyrone players remember it only too well. Sean Cavanagh seems to remember it particularly clearly:

"We played them last year up in Celtic Park and there were a few 'tackles' that night. Paddy Bradley was toeing the ball a bit at the end, maybe a wee bit of showboating from the Derry guy's that maybe didn't sit too well with the Tyrone supporters or us."

It was indeed a bit of showboating, and enjoyable as it was at the time, the Summer belonged to Tyrone. Despite this success, Damian Cassidy reckons last April's game still rankles Cavanagh and his teammates:

"There is something in that when they keep referring to it. It’s just not a throwaway remark on his behalf; there’s something to it and something that they’ve harboured. Other than that, I don’t see what last year’s League game has anything to do with this year’s League game."

I'm not a psychoanalyst, but it's fair to say the Tyrone lads might want a modicum of revenge on Saturday night. Forget the fact they have Sam sitting in their trophy cabinet, and forget the prize of two league points on offer; there is an argument to settle. A local feud. It may be forgotten come September, but a Derry win on Saturday evening would still be very sweet.