Christy Ring Cup Round One
Derry v Wicklow
Sunday, Celtic Park, 1pm

By Michael McMullan

DERRY must use every game they can to prepare themselves for life in Division 2A next season.

That’s the thoughts of defender Conor Kelly as the Oakleafers prepare for Sunday’s opener in the Christy Ring Cup at home to Wicklow.

Kelly landed two monster points as Derry ran out 1-23 to 2-15 winners in Saturday’s league final, a game he said was ‘the most important’ in the last ‘three or four’ years.

Derry will now join Down, Offaly, Carlow, Kerry and Kildare in a competitive-looking group next season, for the first time since 2016.

Kelly described Division 2B as a “stuck in the mud” division.

“It is hard to get out of,” said the Kevin Lynch’s defender, who is joined on the Derry panel by brothers Sean and Paddy.

“I think we’ll actually find it easier in 2A, constantly playing at a higher level. That’s why we play sport, you want to be playing at the highest level, you want to see how good you are and how good you can be.”

AIMING HIGH…Conor Kelly feels Derry can compete in Division 2A

Kelly made his debut against Down in the 2019 season and points to the progress Ronan Sheehan’s side, Kildare and Wicklow made by clinching promotion in recent seasons.

“There is no doubt that we are at that level and we can compete. It is a matter of getting out of there and thank God we did today,” Kelly said after Saturday’s game in Ederney.

“For a couple of years, we were a bit unfortunate at how we didn’t get up to the next level. Down made it to a Christy Ring final, got up to the Joe McDonagh and have stayed there.”

Derry made it to the Christy Ring final last season where they ended up on the wrong end of a heavy defeat at the hands of Offaly, a game Kelly missed out on.

Starting on Saturday, they have a chance to redeem themselves in a competition that will see them also face Mayo, London, and Sligo for a second time.

There will also be meeting with Kildare who survived their first season in Division 2A. Along with Down, they have been Derry’s main rivals in recent seasons.

“It is hard to compare yourselves to them (Down) because we haven’t been keeping a close eye on them,” replied Kelly when asked if Derry could take solace from how Down progressed this year,

“We have been focussing on ourselves. We have played them and their team hasn’t changed that much over a couple of years.

“They have definitely upped their level, their speed and athleticism; it’s up to us to get to that level again.”

For now, it’s about seeing how their Christy Ring Cup campaign can materialise.

“Kildare gave us a good tight beating last year (in the league) so we’ll be aiming to up our levels again. They are up a level and that’s where we are striving to get to,” Kelly added.

“You have use every game you have. In a county campaign, you’ve around 10 games a year, so you are going to have to take every game – league or Christy Ring – you are going to have to use any game time you can get.”

READ MORE – Derry promoted after win over Sligo. Click here…