Chrissy McKaigue says reports of Derry’s demise have been greatly exaggerated

Chrissy McKaigue considers the portrayal of Derry’s winless season, and feels it is too rudimentary to judge everything solely on the results. Because Derry are back in Newry this Saturday, and they might just be back in business too.

The last time the Oak Leafers won a competitive match in regulation time was their All-Ireland SFC round three group game against Westmeath at Páirc Esler in Newry on June 15th, 2024. They subsequently beat Mayo after a penalty shootout in a preliminary quarter-final before losing to Kerry in the last eight.

McKaigue played in all three of those games – scoring the crucial equalising point at the end of normal time in Castlebar – but in November the 2022 All-Star defender announced his intercounty retirement.

“I’ve settled in relatively well and that’s probably a good thing, because when your gut tells you that it’s time to move on and several months down the line it still feels that way, that’s a fairly good indication that the time was right,” he says.

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“From around May onwards, every time I was coming out of the Owenbeg changing rooms I was going, ‘This is one less visit that I’m going to have in the years to come’. Time moves on quickly and you realise that everyone’s replaceable.”

Haste wasn’t Derry GAA’s strong point last autumn, and they were the last county to appoint a senior football manager for 2025, with Paddy Tally confirmed as boss in mid-November.

It has been a difficult maiden season for Tally, but their recent draw with Galway in the second round of group games felt like a statement performance. The aim now is to add a statement win against Dublin in Newry on Saturday.

McKaigue does not agree with the view that Derry’s footballers have been spiralling since the end of last year’s league campaign. “It depends on your definition of dropping off the edge of a cliff,” he replies when asked about Derry’s 12-month slump.

“We won the Division One National League title, which is no mean feat. Now, is it that Derry failed in terms of meeting their expectations in the championship? Absolutely, but there has been a narrative created last year that Derry’s senior footballers had the worst season ever.

“They won the McKenna Cup, I’m not claiming it to be anything overly special – but they still won it. They won Division One of the National League, they didn’t have a good championship campaign, but it’s all relative because they were beaten by Donegal, Armagh, Galway and eventually Kerry – three out of the four teams that reached the All-Ireland semi-finals. Derry still reached the quarter-finals.

“I can remember many poorer years for Derry in the championship than last year, but it was sort of built up into this catastrophe of a year. It was more that we didn’t meet expectations.

“It’s amazing that narrative was sort of depicted in so many areas, and I felt Mickey Harte last year got a lot of scrutiny that was a wee bit over the top at times.

“I still feel that Derry are a contender for Sam Maguire, maybe not this year in the same capacity as last year, but do I feel that Derry squad will have the potential to be a contender for Sam Maguire in the next number of years? I do.

“I know that’s the ambition for Derry as a county. I’d like to think that wouldn’t be based upon delusion, that would be based upon fact and logic. In the last three years, back-to-back semi-finals and last year quarter-finals, so you’d like to think there’s a wee bit of substance in that claim.

“This year hasn’t gone very well, but there have been legitimate reasons for that.”

And as for Derry’s winless streak, McKaigue believes there are various ways to juggle those stats.

“Winning on penalties counts as a victory, we went down to Mayo and beat them,” he says. “Just to make sure you’re writing that now, because I don’t buy into that narrative. Winning on penalties still works.

“By the time Derry play Dublin next weekend, they’ll have played 11 competitive games this year, and each of the 11 games will have been played against Division One standard teams. So it’s all relative too, the standard of opposition they have played against this year has been of a really high standard.

“You have to give Paddy Tally a bit of slack too, in regards that we’re missing Conor McCluskey and Gareth McKinless. From a Derry perspective, they are two generational players.”

Still, unless they get something from their clash with Dublin on Saturday, Derry’s 2025 season will be over.

“You would imagine Dublin’s efficiency will be better than (it was against Armagh),” says McKaigue. “But you’re going to Newry, you’re going to a tighter pitch, you’re going to a proper championship game where it literally is winner takes all.

“Are Derry capable of beating Dublin? Absolutely, but Dublin are also capable of beating Derry. People aren’t quite sure where Derry and Dublin both are in the pecking order, so you would like to think after the next game there will be a bit more transparency shed on that one.

“I just think Dublin will have a big say in this year’s All-Ireland, potentially. I hope they don’t, because that will mean that Derry will have turned them over.

“They’re a different side without Con O’Callaghan, too. He is their David Clifford. He is their leader. He does so much for them and gives them that composure and that settled feeling.”

Chrissy McKaigue was speaking at the launch of the 2025 Electric Ireland GAA All-Ireland minor championships