Fitzmaurice: Dublin scalp in the Derry air

RTÉ GAA analyst Eamonn Fitzmaurice believes that Derry have demonstrated that they are very much a Division 1 team in waiting – and victory over a yet to ignite Dublin on Saturday night would rubber-stamp such an assertion.

Both sides enter the Celtic Park tie, which will be broadcast live on RTÉ2, with 100% winning records to defend after four matches, but the manner of their journeys to eight points from a possible eight have been wholly different.

Apart from a stern test against Louth in Ardee, Rory Gallagher's Ulster champions have cruised to league wins over Limerick, Meath and most recently Kildare, holding the trio to a miserly combined total of 1-18.

For Dublin it’s been a case of just doing enough. A comfortable win over Limerick aside, they were left hanging on in narrow victories over Kildare and Cork before needing seven points on the bounce late on to avoid a shock loss to Clare at Croke Park on Saturday evening.

While level at the top of the Division 2 table, Fitzmaurice believes that it’s the Ulster side who look best placed to record what would be a real impact win, even if we’re still in the league skirmishes.

"Derry have pushed on from last year again. We’ve all been so impressed with them for the last couple of seasons and the graph has continued to go up," he told the RTÉ GAA Podcast.

"A couple of the issues that were hanging over them from last year, particularly in terms of their forward threat and a bit more support for Shane McGuigan, they looked to have worked on that this winter and they have improved again and they are pushing on again.

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