Derry boss Rory Gallagher believes his side must “improve massively” if they are to reach the All-Ireland final despite Saturday’s emphatic quarter-final win over Clare.
Derry will face either Armagh or Galway for a place in the 24 July final and Gallagher insists his players must operate at an even higher level to beat either of those counties.
“We’ve enjoyed our period with everyone available,” said Gallagher.
“We’ve built, we haven’t been perfect but we’ve done an awful lot right and now we have to improve massively going into the game because with all due respect to Clare, they haven’t been in the latter stages (of the championship).
“Armagh have been a Division One team for the last number of years and have beaten Tyrone and Donegal, while Galway have been in Division One, apart from this year, for the last four or five years and have been in an All-Ireland semi-final (in 2018) and a National League final.
“Whoever comes down it’ll be a big step-up.”
Like in the Ulster semi-final and final victories over Monaghan and Donegal, Derry managed to bag an early goal.
But while it took them 25 minutes to score two against Monaghan, the Oak Leaf faithful inside Croke Park witnessed both Benny Heron and Conor Glass raise green flags inside the opening 12 minutes.
Glass’ goal put Derry seven clear and Gallagher admits his side had set out to “open up the game as early as possible”.
“We scored early on and opened up the game,” he added.
“We had a good idea that Clare’s gameplan was going to be to keep things tight and conservative. They set their stall out, conceding the kick-outs so we wanted to open up the game as early as possible.
“We missed a number of point chances, we took the goals early on very well and it left Clare having to change tactics.”
Derry have come a long way from ‘very dark day’ against Galway
Derry will draw considerable confidence from the manner in which they overpowered Clare having been without competitive action for four weeks after their Ulster win.
The 5-13 to 2-8 demolition job on Clare at headquarters also represents the latest memorable result for Derry in an ever-growing list that includes wins over Tyrone, Monaghan and Donegal in this year’s triumphant provincial campaign.
Derry were playing Division Four football as recently as 2019 – just prior to Gallagher’s arrival – while few would have marked them out as All-Ireland contenders after watching their 11-point Division Two loss to Galway at Owenbeg as recently as March.
And when asked to sum up this group’s journey from the lower reaches of the National League to big championship wins at Croke Park, Gallagher admitted the players have come a “massive long way”.
“But, you know, that’s probably more to the outside world, once myself and the rest of the coaches and the management team got our teeth into it, we knew we had a lot of good quality,” he added.
“Yes, it’s a big leap but it’s also, from our point of view, about fulfilling your potential and our job, our aim, and what we all want as part of the group, is to get the most out of ourselves and to enjoy it every step of the way.
“Look, part of that’s going to be when things go your way and games don’t always go your way.
“We bounced back from a very dark day in Owenbeg against Galway in this year’s league and responded well, it’s really enjoyable. There will be ups and downs but we’ll enjoy the ride as best we can.”
