Derry GAA

Five Derry players have been named on the Electric Ireland Minor Star Football Team of the Year

The best players, games and moments along with the biggest surprises and disappointments, as chosen by Irish Times writers

After 19 years of trying, Armagh are back in the All-Ireland semi-finals, but can they beat the Kingdom?

Derry entered four competitions, they won two – the McKenna Cup and league title (a first since 2008). Their five losses came against Dublin, Donegal, Galway, Armagh and Kerry. It wasn’t a tremendous season, but it certainly wasn’t an awful one results-wise.

Tyrone native led Derry to a league title but endured a difficult championship campaign

Goals in each half from captain James Sargent and Cody Rocks secure a third title in last five years

The reigning champions can call upon as many as five starters from last year’s all-conquering side

Michael Murphy: The four counties still standing won’t have to cope with Dublin’s ruthless box-ticking but they all still have their own issues to address

The Kingdom is full of pragmatists; Donegal are both battle-hardened and fresh; Derry’s nihilistic streak; Tipperary’s minor miracle

Kerry boss Jack O'Connor ‘If you think you can play a kind of gung-ho open football against that type of structure then that’s not living in the real world’

Galway will face Donegal in All-Ireland semi-final while Kerry meet Armagh

A drab afternoon was saved by cameos from Cillian Burke, Killian Spillane and Dylan Geaney as the Munster champions progress to meet Armagh

Kingdom through to play Armagh, while Donegal will play Galway

I expect a big performance from Kerry and reckon they will beat Derry pretty convincingly

Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh can earn a reward for their consistency in the last two years by reaching the All-Ireland semi-finals along with Dublin, Kerry and Donegal

The football championship finally gets serious with the two biggest beasts out there for everyone else to take a swing at in Croke Park this weekend

Kerry have enjoyed serene progress so far but Jack O’Connor’s men will be wary of the potent threat posed by Mickey Harte’s Derry

Mickey Harte’s side made it their business to get men who are key to an opposition’s game plan doing jobs they didn’t want to do

An old rivalry resumes at the weekend, but have the ground rules changed forever?

Mayo needed to ask the big questions from the start and didn’t. You can be sure Kerry won’t make the same mistake.

Every team is fighting for momentum as the championship heads into the home straight

Armagh v Roscommon will open weekend action with Donegal taking on Louth and Derry facing Kerry on Sunday

Clare skip into hurling semi-final clash with Kilkenny; Scotland sent homeward after painful defeat to Hungary; Harrington’s hat-trick at Dick’s

Clare bounce back, Cork’s goals dry up, Brennan onto something special in Louth and Laois coming to the boil nicely

Mickey Harte’s side prevail after ding-dong encounter but the home side will regret the chances missed prior to the penalty shootout

Ulster team win by narrowest of margins on mild day in Mullingar

Mayo are coming from a different position. Frustrated not to get the win over Dublin, they are nonetheless on a run of just one defeat in the past seven matches

Mickey Harte’s side must put recent downturn in form behind them to beat Mayo

Mickey Harte will also have Gareth McKinless available after he served his two-game suspension

Mickey Harte’s side limped into the preliminary quarter-finals after two defeats

Goals from Conor McCluskey and Emmet Bradley at the end of each half prove the difference in Newry

Derry manager says he can handle any criticism but he believes recent sideshow was not fair on his players

Westmeath have never beaten Derry in the All-Ireland, but a famous league encounter in 1994 sparked a flame in the Lake County and taught Joe Brolly’s team a lesson. Gary Connaughton recalls a feat that suggests Saturday’s clash is no foregone conclusion

The Tribesmen are the only team in the Senior Football Championship yet to concede a goal

Striking litany of injured players undermines teams but also impacts on individuals themselves

Derry’s 0-18 to 2-10 win over Dublin in Breffni Park was the only close encounter of the four quarter-finals

WhatsApp was on fire with tales of the manager’s ousting, but he will remain in the hot seat - at least until the end of the season

Mickey Harte’s players keep making the same silly mistakes and now they’ve lost their discipline into the bargain – I don’t see any way of them rescuing this for an All-Ireland push

Three matches after winning the league, Mickey Harte’s team look like they want the season to end

Football format needs a rethink; Offaly on the march; Road trips prove successful; Waterford out despite second win