Division 1 league crown an important milestone on Derry journey - Brendan Rogers

Derry midfielder Brendan Rogers believes claiming the county's first Division 1 Allianz Football League title in 16 years could prove a significant step on their quest for Sam Maguire.

The Oak Leaf County are back-to-back Ulster champions but until Sunday's dramatic win over Dublin, their last national silverware had been the Division 3 crown in 2021. The Dubs beat them by seven points in the Division 2 decider last year.

"Getting up the steps in Croke Park at any stage is important, and nothing to be turning your nose up at," Rogers told Marty Morrissey on RTÉ Radio 1.

"But to win a Division 1 national title, it's probably a bit more significant, in terms of the journey we’re on.

"It keeps proving to us that we’re good enough on the big stage. Obviously you have to keep doing that but that’s the nature of where we came from a few years ago.

"It’s an important milestone. Especially when you’re playing against successful teams like Dublin, and in Croke Park as well. It just adds that little bit of extra importance to it."

Derry twice looked to have thrown away victory, coughing up a three-point lead at the end of normal time, and conceding a last-gasp goal to Greg McEneaney in extra-time. But they kept their composure to win 3-1 on penalties.

"I always felt we had a good tune in the game and it was probably a case of our own chances being missed that kept Dublin in the game," said Rogers. "We never put them away the way we should have.

"We have a lot of good young lads coming into the squad so it’s the first time in a while you would have said we have a larger panel we can make use of.

"We did that. We lost Gareth [McKinless] quite early on, Pádraig McGrogan and Niall Loughlin had to go off, so testament to those guys to come on