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One point win for the footballers. Made hard work of that although the wind made things difficult. As did the referee.

I would imagine Chrissy will be handed a free role / sweeper in the team, with the view of limiting the number of goals conceded and him organising and joining overlaps if and when needed

Not the worst idea - he definitely needs to play. Just don't want him at 3.

I really enjoyed some of the arguments and counter arguments posed by our last number of posters.Getting back to last year's performance against Kildare the enormously talented but incredibly inconsistent Daniel Flynn  just happened to be at his best against Derry.In that circumstance  he is practically unmarkable if the correct ball is coming in to him which it was. So Chrissy McKaigue was not to blame for that.The fault lay elsewhere. What some people forget about that game is that four key Derry players were continually fouled off the ball  and the referee did nothing about it.This  bad refereeing alone resulted in Kildare scoring 1-3 against the run of play at  vital stages.

It is true that some of our best players are unfortunately lacking in height and strength which is a huge disadvantage in the modern game.However all of these individuals are intelligent,skilful, pacy and plucky which helps greatly to compensate for their physical shortcomings.

Ryan Bell, when fit again,  and Niall Toner are really our only other scoring options that I  can think of outside the U20's.Niall Holly would have provided a viable midfield option but unfortunately he was not able to commit to the county which is a great pity because if any of our key fielders get injured we have few options.Likewise the absence of a versatile scoring forward such as Niall Loughlin is a huge blow.

So unless we get lucky and none of our top forwards get injured management might have to resort to introducing some of the u20's if there is an emergency situation.That is something none of us would like to see happen especially as our 20's should do well in the provincial and even All Ireland series if left untouched.

The hgh scoring forwards might be our concern alright. Outside of the current panel and the u20's, one of the obvious ones is Danny Tallon, who apparently doesn't want to play. Another I was thinking was Anthony O'Neil at Loup - was he the Champo top scorer?  I have no idea how good he is, just looking at scorers.  Mulgrew at Screen always looks dangerous too but not sure his situation, I think he's a Tyrone man.

After Derry's much improved displays this season there should be some very healthy competition for places for the opening league match against Antrim.It is important, however, for management to always put out a very strong side in each of the league games as we can not afford any slip ups. I would expect that the u20 players would not be considered for the League  games except in an emergency situation.Assuming that Brendan Rogers,Paul McNeill and Ryan Bell will not be fully fit, I would suggest the following team to be picked against the Glensmen.
                                                 B McKinless
N Keenan                                  C Mulholland                        K McKaigue
M McEvoy                                   C McKaigue                          E McGill
                                  C McAtamney            C McFaul
P Coney                                     C Bradley                            P Cassidy
E Lynn                                        E Bradley                            S McGuigan
Subs
T Mallon
E Concannon
S Quinn
R Dougan
G McKinless
J Rocks
D Hughes
T O'Brien
J Doherty
N Toner

A much better effort than usual Optimist. But still at least 4 wrong.

Chrissy McKaigue, IMO, can only effectively play at full back for county. He doesn't have enough going forward and all too often plays the ball back after running 30yards, which slows the whole attack down even if it does retain possession.
Of that team, I'd drop mulhullan, put Chrissy in full back and bring mckinless into CHB.
We need to be tough to beat first a foremost. With the exception of Rodgers that would be our strongest available defence IMO.
Wouldn't have any complaints about the rest of the selection.

I never want to see Chrissy at full back after last year's qualifier against Kildare. I can't remember if it was him or Johnston who was wearing no. 3 but between the pair of them they looked like under 14s trying to mark the big fella whose name escapes me.  It's not his game.

I think he's got plenty in his game to play 6. Or 5/7.  I completely agree that he slows it down too often but that's not a lack of ability, that's just him doing what he's been trained to do for his club for the last few years. We just need to train it out of him. He's a good ball carrier, a decent passer when he tries it, and has kicked many a good score from distance. Rogers/Mulholland full backs for me, every day.

I agree, wouldn't have Chrissy in the fullback line either. He's not comfortable marking in there. I'd be tempted to play him Midfield, as Derry aren't overloaded with options in this position

We'll just have to agree to disagree.
IMO, Chrissy's best football in a county jersey was when he was consistently playing full back. He's had runs in MF and CHB, none of which have been very good. I think he really cant play a HB role at all as he's not defensive enough when on that line. But in FB, he has a man-marking job and that I think he can be very good at whilst also marshalling the full back line.
Any player can have a bad day if he's put into a position he's not regularly playing in though.
I'd have Rodgers in CHB before Chrissy. But, only an opinion.

Although ultimately I don't agree with you I definitely understand your argument. It's nice that we seem to have more defensive options than in previous years.
Also, was Chrissy at full back against Kildare? I honestly don't remember that. I mind thinking Flynn was too big physically for his man before Rogers was brought on. I thought it was McNeill and maybe Johnson who were tried before that?
Just looking up at the squad posted above, are we a bit short on forwards? Both E Bradley and P Cassidy named in forwards when both could end up playing midfield and more defenders on the bench. Outside of Bell is there any other forwards to come in (not on U20s)?

He wasn't playing full back but was doing a sort of sweeping job and we seemed to essentially try and double-mark Flynn. I remember one ball came in, Flynn was sandwiched between Chrissy and Johnston but he bullied them both out of the way and won it with ease. I worry Chrissy would be on the receiving end of similar against other big full forwards.

For me, his best ever marking job was against Connelly in the club game, but that wasn't a traditional man-marking job where he stuck to him like a rash. The reason he dominated him was because any time Chrissy won the ball, he tried to drive forward. He made Connelly chase him, as much as the other way round. Honestly think he is a quality half back, I'm not slating him but I don't like him at full back.

After Derry's much improved displays this season there should be some very healthy competition for places for the opening league match against Antrim.It is important, however, for management to always put out a very strong side in each of the league games as we can not afford any slip ups. I would expect that the u20 players would not be considered for the League  games except in an emergency situation.Assuming that Brendan Rogers,Paul McNeill and Ryan Bell will not be fully fit, I would suggest the following team to be picked against the Glensmen.
                                                 B McKinless
N Keenan                                  C Mulholland                        K McKaigue
M McEvoy                                   C McKaigue                          E McGill
                                  C McAtamney            C McFaul
P Coney                                     C Bradley                            P Cassidy
E Lynn                                        E Bradley                            S McGuigan
Subs
T Mallon
E Concannon
S Quinn
R Dougan
G McKinless
J Rocks
D Hughes
T O'Brien
J Doherty
N Toner

A much better effort than usual Optimist. But still at least 4 wrong.

Chrissy McKaigue, IMO, can only effectively play at full back for county. He doesn't have enough going forward and all too often plays the ball back after running 30yards, which slows the whole attack down even if it does retain possession.
Of that team, I'd drop mulhullan, put Chrissy in full back and bring mckinless into CHB.
We need to be tough to beat first a foremost. With the exception of Rodgers that would be our strongest available defence IMO.
Wouldn't have any complaints about the rest of the selection.

I never want to see Chrissy at full back after last year's qualifier against Kildare. I can't remember if it was him or Johnston who was wearing no. 3 but between the pair of them they looked like under 14s trying to mark the big fella whose name escapes me.  It's not his game.

I think he's got plenty in his game to play 6. Or 5/7.  I completely agree that he slows it down too often but that's not a lack of ability, that's just him doing what he's been trained to do for his club for the last few years. We just need to train it out of him. He's a good ball carrier, a decent passer when he tries it, and has kicked many a good score from distance. Rogers/Mulholland full backs for me, every day.

Concannon has to start on form, surely? In fact Sean Quinn would be unlucky to be dropped too.  Might mean putting Karl in the half backs and trying Chrissy in midfield again. But I know damn all tbf

Oh aye, Odhran Lynch should start too.

Didn't get to today's game. I see sammy scored a few frees again would like to see him start in the league. What were the kickouts like? Was there a strategy against a better team?

I don't really have any memories of the kickouts - they weren't amazing but they weren't bad either. With Cassidy and Dougan playing as wing half forwards, they give us a good option. But Tyrone are physically a fair bit bigger than us and we didn't really have a chance to exploit any advantage that those two will give us against shorter half backs.

I'm hoping Odhran Lynch will be the starting goalkeeper in a fortnight's time. Mallon is a pretty good keeper but I just think he's bit too small for this level. There was one point in the second half where he got a fist to the ball to help it over the bar - I think Lynch makes a good effort at catching that. And his kickouts are longer.

Plenty of positives to take from that performance I think. The full back line was really solid, that's obviously without Rogers too.

I'm not a fan of either the fist pass rule or the mark, it has to be said.

Seems the boys played rightly yesterday, going by reports. Praise for Lynch's kickouts which is good to read (although anyone who has seen him will probably have known that anyway - I first saw him play for the convent vs St Pat's in Bellaghy last year and I couldn't believe what I was seeing).

McCarron sounds like some operator.

Good to see some of those fresh faces, some good players there. Did Conor Doherty not play in the league this year? I thought he did.

It's a shame that the lads have retired but I wish them all the best, they'll be missed. I kind of hope Lynch retires too - still one of our best players in the county but that man doesn't owe Derry a single thing. He has no need to be traipsing up and down the country playing division 4 football at his age.

Time for some of the younger boys to step up. I am still convinced that we've got the makings of a decent side. I worry about our physicality in defence but we've an opportunity now to get a squad together for the league and to potentially head into the Tyrone game on a winning run. If we're beat at that stage, it is what it is.

Tyrone v Derry in preliminary round of Ulster next year. Ffs

With only the final to go who would you say has impressed in this years championship and would be deserving of a county call up?

Holly, Colm McGoldrick, Ciaran Mullan, Eamonn McGill, Niall Toner, Ryan Bell, Benny Herron & the Lavey keeper have been the stand outs for me. I was also impressed with Jack Doherty from Glen yesterday. I wonder how many of them will be on the panel this year.

McGill, Toner and Bell definitely impressed me. The Lavey keeper would be an interesting one to call up, I think he's about 30 years old and never played County but he's a good keeper, has been for a while, and his kicking is maybe the best of any keeper I've seen all year. 

Any number of the Coleraine boys would be worth a go in the first Derry squad of 2019 to be honest.  Colm McGoldrick in particular though.

Just saw the video. Truly shocking....but not in the least bit surprised! We've had this discussion here a few times. The Derry board need to deal with this, with social media the evidence is plain to see, so it shouldn't be as handily swept under the carpet.

I see people suggesting, seriously, that phones and cameras should be banned because its spreading this sort of thing.

Film everything, I say. Maybe then we'll get some proper punishments and by the time our under 12s are playing senior football they'll have a bit of manners and won't be trying to fight everyone in sight when they spit their dummy out.  Absolutely embarrassing behaviour.

Well if nothing is done about the previous 7 what do you expect?

Bang on.

It's a disgrace.