It's a big year for these Derry stars.
The
Allianz National League is officially underway and the return of inter-county football is finally back, but there are five players helming from
Derry that you should keep an eye out for.
The pre-season competitions tell us very little about where teams are at, who is going to be in the panel, and what sort of style will the manager be deploying etc - however the National League reveals all.
Last year we seen Mayo's gameplay to utilise Aidan O'Shea up front while stars like Darragh Canavan, Matthew Tierney and Enda Smith really broke through and reached the next level of their games.
Now with the season on the brink of beginning we have a list of county stars to keep an eye out for this year, and we're going to start with Derry first:
5. Lachlan Murray
The young Derry forward has been used more and more as an option to spring from the bench in the previous two years, and now in his first season as a fully fledged senior county star with no obligations to the minors or u20s, we hope to really see what this young man can do.
It's no secret that there is an over dependence on Shane McGuigan to get the scores up front, so Murray is a ready-made solution to that problem and if he is given game time, then there is every chance that he can really shine in 2024.
4. Cormac Murphy
Another corner forward who can help take the scoring pressure of McGuigan. The young sharp shooter from Magherafelt is very direct, and is almost a throwback in the sense that his first thought when he gets the ball is to take his man on rather than pop it off or go on the loop.
Murphy was given a lot of game time in the McKenna Cup where he impressed, and although he might not get much time in the starting 15, he will certainly be an option coming on from the bench this season.
3. Declan Cassidy
The Bellaghy clubman started against Kerry at centre half forward and was very impressive in his league debut, in what would have been a very high pressured environment.
With Ciaran McFaul and Ethan Doherty either side of him, he acted as the perfect linchpin in the middle, and even got an important score in the second half when Mickey Harte was looking for men to step up.
2. Dan Higgins
Dan Higgins first got noticed when a photo of him playing for Derry minors was doing the rounds on social media, and nobody could believe that an 18 year old could be the size that he is.
The muscular physique of the Magherafelt native made it obvious that he was going to have no problem with the physicality of the inter-county game, and that has proved to be the case.
In fact, when SportsJOE interviewed him back in 2021, he explained that the muscle just came very quickly once he started hitting the gym
"I put on about a stone and a half in a year and a half or so, but I'm not actually as heavy now as I was then. With the season started, I don't go to the gym as much as I did and I actually lost a bit of weight."
After impressing in the McKenna Cup, it's likely that we will see the man mountain feature a lot more often in an Oakleaf jersey.
1. Emmett Bradley
Obviously Emmett Bradley has been an established inter-county star for along time and is now an All-Ireland club champion with Watty Graham's Glen, but after taking a year's break from the Derry team last year it will be interesting to see how he will fit into the team.
The Glen clubman was unbelievable in midfield this season, but it will be hard to see him break up the duo of Conor Glass and Brendan Rogers that was so successful last year, so how will Harte deploy his new player?
The likelihood is that he finds a position in the half forward line, otherwise it could be a case of coming off the bench as an impact sub something which Derry lacked in previous years.
Either way they are undoubtedly stronger with him in the squad than without him.
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