Ulster Minor Football Championship semi-final

Derry v Cavan

Saturday, Athletic Grounds, 5pm

By Michael McMullan

MARTIN Boyle insists it will take “everything they have” if Derry are to qualify for the county’s sixth minor final in eight seasons.

The Oakleafers will face Cavan in Saturday’s semi-final without captain Ryan McNicholl.

The Glenullin youngster has been ruled out of the rest of the season with a ruptured ACL sustained in their win over Donegal in the previous round.

“It is a tough, tough injury for a cub,” stated Boyle, who said it was a “massive blow” to their plans.

“He is irreplaceable. At that age, he is big, strong, pacy and is a complete wrecking ball that would disrupt any man-marking duties. He is so vital for the team and that’s one of the reasons why he is captain.”

Boyle also said it will be touch and go for Lavey defender Eoin Scullion to make a return after a thigh injury forced him out of the Donegal game.

“We’ll have to see what way he progresses this week,” Boyle said. “It is niggly and it’s the sort of the injury you can’t take any risks with.”

Dara McGurk, Ruadhri McAleese and Tom Quinn are all back in training after injury, with the latter making an appearance in the last game.

Saturday will be the first knock-out game after having a ‘back door’ in the earlier rounds and the winners will be guaranteed a place in the All-Ireland series thanks to booking a provincial final place.

“The retaliation is there now and the stakes are even higher,” admitted Boyle, now in his third season as manager.

He was present in Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday to run his eyes over Derry’s opponents and was impressed by Cavan, who scored 1-16 in the victory over Antrim. They also scored 1-15 in defeat to Tyrone earlier in the competition.

“They have a lot of dangerous players,” stated Boyle, who commented on their style of play.

Cavan have size in the right places, top defenders and no shortage of very good forwards.

“The Smiths (Michael and Matthew) are very accurate and it will take everything we have to get on the right side of it,” he added.

Derry were nine-point winners when the sides met in the league at Boyle’s club pitch in Ballinascreen, with Cavan only having “six or seven” of their championship side against a very strong home side.

“It is about rejigging the team without Ryan and to match up well against them,” said Boyle of this week’s priority.

The Oakleafers have since dissected their own performance against Donegal, a mixed bag that saw them dominate the first half before being held scoreless for the final 24 minutes.

“We sat down and looked at it as a group, we chatted and got answers from the boys of what they possibly felt went wrong.

“Whilst we (the management) were disappointed, they were even more disappointed,” said Boyle, hinting at the squad’s ambition for the perfect performance.

“They are a great group and here will be an extra buzz around Owenbeg this week after Sunday’s (senior) win.

“They’ll be tapping into that and they are getting to the stage in their careers where they are playing for Derry at the right time.”