By Michael McMullan

AFTER missing out on getting at least a draw in their league opener in Meath, Donegal face a vital Ulster derby with Tyrone this weekend.

Manager Mickey McCann is eight seasons into his tenure and outlines the importance of a victory for either side to stay in Division Two.

Joe McDonagh Cup teams Down, Kildare and Kerry, in his eyes, will be chasing promotion.

Below that, Derry and Meath will be jockeying for position leaving his side and the Red Hands facing into a vital game.

“We’re disappointed after Saturday (against Meath), we put in a big shift and nobody really gave us a chance of winning but we thought we could,” McCann told Gaelic Life.

It was a disappointed dressing room with a long spin home from Trim with nothing to show for their efforts.

“Tyrone and ourselves will be fighting hard,” he said about Sunday’s showdown in O’Donnell Park.

“Derry and Meath are a wee bit ahead of us, but, after last week, Tyrone are well capable of beating Meath.

“It’s real 50-50 battle with them this week and I think you’re going to need four points at least to stay in the division.”

After winning three Nickey Rackard titles in his time as manager and losing a final to Wicklow, there has been progression under McCann’s watch.

It has taken them to the third tier with the leagues restructured after the 2024 campaign.

It’s a chance to challenge themselves against teams from the Joe McDonagh Cup. But McCann feeds the layout would’ve been better served with just one team relegated.

“It’s very, very hard for a team to find their feet,” he said. “Ourselves and Tyrone are up on that level of hurling for the first time ever.

“With two being relegated, it’s really, really tough and I can see just a pendulum of teams going up and down again.”

In terms of the championship, their performance gives heart going into the Christy Ring Cup later in the season. Meath, like Derry, are going to be one of the fancied teams.

“It gives you a great incentive to say, look, at least we know we’re going to be there or thereabouts,” he said, also highlighting their succession planning by the integration of u-20 players.

“We have four or five of the u-20s on our panel. Anybody that goes out of u-20s we think is capable of stepping in, we take them in straight away.

“Liam McKinney and Conor Gartland, they came on board with us at 19 years of age and they’re big players now.

“It’s just about trying to keep a wee conveyor belt of anybody that’s got potential, to keep them interested in hurling and get them on board.”