Derry bid to justify favourites tag in minor decider

Damian McErlain had modest expectations when he returned to the role of Derry minor manager for 2023.

He'd guided the county to two Ulster titles in the 2010s, and an Electric Ireland All-Ireland final in 2017, but needed to weigh up his latest group.

"I felt we were strong enough but initially you just wanted them to be competitive with the other teams," said McErlain. "That was as far as we thought about it."

Competitive? They've been that alright. On the eve of the Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football final, they are chasing back-to-back titles for the first time in the county's history. They have already claimed back-to-back provincial titles and have lost just once in their last 29 outings, a 2023 league final defeat.

"We realised when we took the squad at the start of last year that 10 of them were going to be underage again this year," said McErlain. "That was going to be an advantage coming into this year. But you couldn't have known starting out how well we were going to get on in terms of the win rate that they've had. Hopefully there's one more in it."

Derry will play Armagh in Sunday's decider in Omagh and the circumstances for the Oak Leaf County are similar to last year. They also played an Ulster rival in the 2023 final in the form of Monaghan, and just like last year have played Armagh twice already, beating them in their Ulster group and then in the provincial final.

The experience of last year's success has stood to the present group. Derry captain James Sargent, thrilling half-back Luke Grant, attackers Ger Dillon and Eamon Young contributed 0-11 between them in the recent come-from-behind semi-final defeat of Kerry. All four lined out in last year's final.

The bigger picture for Derry is that this is