Injuries Taking Toll

The following is the Derry side to face Monaghan in Sunday's Ulster SFC First Round game at Celtic Park:

Derry: B Gillis; K McGuckin, K McCloy, G O'Kane; P Cartin, B McGoldrick, SL McGoldrick; F Doherty, J Diver; B McGuigan, P Murphy, E Lynn; E Bradley, Paddy Bradley, J Kielt.

Subs: J Deighan, D McBride, J Keenan, SM Lockhart, B Og McAlary, C McKaigue, J Conway, B Mullan, G McShane, P Young, S Bradley, M Lynch, E Brown, D Mulholland, C O'Boyle.

It's Damian Cassidy's first selection in Championship football, and his hand has been severely tied by an injury crisis that has ruled out four players who would most likely have started Sunday's Ulster SFC game against Monaghan if fit.

Ballinderry duo Enda Muldoon (foot) and Niall McCusker (groin) look set to be ruled out for a few weeks, while Mark Lynch and Sean Lockhart are fit only for the bench.

These absences leave a considerable hole in the Derry resources, but Cassidy is blue in the face telling us about how his experimental and ever-changing NFL line-ups were designed with this very problem in mind.

He can feel vindicated. For now.

Because Sunday is all about getting the result and despite having a lengthy injury list (swollen further by the names of Patsy Bradley, Paul Bradley and Colin Devlin), Derry supporters expect victory.

We're possibly expecting too much. Could any other inter-county side cope with the loss of so many key players against a hardened championship team like Monaghan?

Last year's game between the sides showed that Derry can struggle under such circumstances, but even then, a weakened side lost a very close game by only the bare minumum.

Thanks to the management approach taken during the league campaign, Sunday's team - which includes four debutants - looks a lot more familiar. The selection of Sean Leo McGoldrick, Enda Lynn, Barry McGuigan and James Kielt holds no surprises. The Oakleaf faithful expect victory because they believe that this crop of players are capable of beating Monaghan, and a lot more besides.

Sunday's side will see Joe Diver and Gerard O'Kane continuing at midfield and corner-back respectively, as they did in the league final.

In the forwards, James Kielt gets the nod in the corner-forard berth, while Barry McGuigan comes in for Brian Mullan at wing-half forward.

These players have been picked to carry out defined roles in Damian Cassidy's system of play. It's a system that depends on the team, and not individuals. It should be able to cope with the loss of injured players.

Derry are preparing to give it a rigorous test on Sunday.