Gaelic Games

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Former Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue has backed his former team-mates to bounce back in the All-Ireland group stages after they were knocked out of the Ulster Championship by Donegal on Sunday.

"Derry are probably going through a small period of transition.

"They just need to be careful now, it's been a difficult season to date, but the All-Ireland series is a different competition and can turn into a different brand of football too with the warm weather and firm pitches.

"Derry just need to be careful that they draw a line under this. They weren't expected to win today.

"If they can get a few weeks training under their belt and get a few players freshened up and injury-free, they can still be knocking around an All-Ireland quarter-final.

"Once you get to that stage, anything can happen. It's a tight group, it's a close group. They've been through good days and difficult days.

"I have no doubt, I'll back that group that they'll come back."

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Donegal manager Jim McGuinness insists the Ulster Championship will "always" be his main focus as he watched his side get off to a flying start with a 1-25 to 1-15 win over Derry in Sunday's preliminary-round game in Ballybofey.

Speaking to BBC Sport NI after the game, McGuinness was asked about the "narrative" of him fielding weakened teams in the latter stages of his side's Division One campaign.

In the end, Ulster champions Donegal missed out on a place in the league final which took place last weekend, just seven days prior to the provincial opener against Derry.

"I'm not sure if that's a question I was going to disrespect the Ulster Championship because that's the number one for me and always will be," he said after Sunday's win," he said.

"I spent all my life trying to win it as a player and the same when you come into management.

"When you set out at the beginning of the year, there's two championships: Ulster and the All-Ireland.

"This is the biggest day in the calendar for a manager and thankfully, we've got over the line.

"We have two weeks now to go to Monaghan - a team that's tapping maybe 1-26, 1-27 every day - playing with serious fluidity, scoring power and running power. It's going to be a completely different challenge for us."

Much has been made of the new rules introduced this year, but the Donegal boss is more than happy with a more open game and his side's tally of 1-25 backs that opinion.

However, he was less than impressed that his centre-back Caolan McGonagle was forced to come to the sideline after receiving treatment which ultimately left the gap for Derry's Dan Higgins to find the net.

"Contrary to public opinion, I like the rules and I like the fact that it is much more transitional now," he stressed.

"It's the way we like to play our football, historically, and we have players that can play that way, so there were no issues there.

"Where I would be very annoyed is we had our centre-half back off the pitch when Derry scored a goal. They went straight down the centre of our defence and we didn't have our six in that position. It didn't cost us today but it could have."

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Derry's Brendan Rogers, who was named man-of-the-match by BBC co-commentator Philly McMahon, reflects on the Oak Leafers' 1-25 to 1-15 loss to Donegal in Sunday's Ulster SFC preliminary-round game in Ballybofey:

"At the end of the first half we were three down and I suppose at that point we'd have been better off trying to kill the first half out and we maybe over-egged a couple of attacks.

"That actually led to them getting 1-1 and stretched it a wee bit for us at half-time, but we did come out with a bit of a bounce.

"I suppose after the first 12 minutes (of the second half) we had a fair gap of rushed shots and I had one myself.

"When you don't get that momentum again, it becomes tougher when they're chipping away at the one-pointers and we were missing maybe a couple of two-pointers. [There is] lots for ourselves to look at in of how the momentum swung, but Donegal were clinical and they kept pegging away and made it harder for us to chase.

"It was a difficult day for us now, we were chasing for most of it."

On his injury worries leading into Sunday's game:

"It didn't matter if it was going to be hurt or not.

"That's not non-negotiable, I was playing and the effort them boys to do all year, the least you can do is give you everything for them and that's just the way it is, it's never going to be anything else."

On Shane McGuigan's first-half penalty, which was saved by Shaun Patton:

"It would definitely have changed the momentum of how we attacked but I don't think that had the biggest bearing on the game.

"It was that early in the game, there was so much football to be played and it was still level for a while after that, so no I wouldn't have said that was the big factor in it."

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Manager: Paddy Tally Captain: Conor Glass Fixture: Donegal v Derry – Pairc Mac Cumhaill, Sunday, 6 April, 14:00 BST

Derry had a miserable league campaign under new boss Paddy Tally, suffering relegation after finishing bottom of Division One and without a win from their seven games.

They will hope to change the downbeat mood around the county by pulling off a shock and beating in-form Donegal on Sunday.

After winning back-to-back Ulster titles, Derry were stunned by Jim McGuinness' eventual winners in the quarter-finals last year - a few weeks after winning the Division One League title.

Derry's chances of an upset win aren't being helped by an injury crisis with the quartet of Gareth McKinless, Odhran Lynch, Conor McCluskey and Anton Tohill all ruled out of the Ballybofey contest.

Brendan Rogers was a major doubt missing Derry's final two league games after limping out of their defeat to Donegal in Ballyshannon but he has been named to start at full-back.

In addition, Ciaran McFaul, Niall Loughlin and Lachlan Murray were also doubts for this weekend's preliminary-round tie but McFaul and Murray have been named to start with Loughlin named amongst the substitutes.

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Manager: Jim McGuinness: Captain: Patrick McBrearty Fixture: Donegal v Derry – Ballybofey, Sunday 6 April, 14:00 BST

Donegal will be confident of winning back-to-back Anglo-Celt Cups as they did in 2018 and 2019.

Jim McGuinness' side held their nerve to triumph 6-5 on penalties against Armagh in last year's final to win the Ulster title for the first time in five years.

They come into their preliminary meeting with a depleted Derry side as favourites after beating the Oak Leafers, then holders, at this stage of the competition last year and in the league at the start of March.

The Tir Conaill men finished fourth in Division One with four wins from seven games, including a 1-22 to 1-19 victory against Derry in Ballyshannon after coming from eight points down with 15 minutes left to play.

Michael Murphy has been carefully managed since his return to the after two seasons out it seems with the intention to have him firing on all cylinders for the championship.

In fact, McGuinness has been careful with the majority of his squad, regularly rotating by using 36 players across their seven games.

As a result, his see primed to go all guns blazing against Derry in the first step on their quest to retain the title.

Monaghan will face the winner of Sunday's preliminary tie between Donegal and Derry, and Donegal are looking strong.

Derry have had a rough time lately. They haven't won a game in regulation since they beat Westmeath in the round-robin last year. It's a long time to go without winning a game of any description.

Looking at it purely on the league table, you'd say they're in trouble heading to Ballybofey, but I don't think it's as bad as that.

They should have beaten Kerry bar two late goals and a catastrophe at the end, they drew with Galway who were arguably the in-form team at that point, and were five or six points up after 65 minutes of their defeat by Donegal.

I don't think their situation is as bad as the league table would have you believe, but they are missing a lot of key players. Look at the defence, for example. Conor McCluskey is out, Gareth McKinless is out and Chrissy McKaigue is retired. That's three All-Star defenders out of the picture.

Then there are the question marks over Brendan Rogers' fitness. I'd expect him to play on Sunday, but how fit is he? At the other end, they're heavily reliant on Shane McGuigan and if Donegal keep him quiet, it's hard to see where Derry's scores are coming from.

You put all that together and the fact they're away to Donegal, who were the form team in the early rounds of the league before putting the handbrake on, it's hard to see how Derry can lift it to a level where they can beat Donegal.

Armagh are carrying the All-Ireland champions tag for the first time in over 20 years and will obviously have a huge say in where the Ulster Championship ends up.

This Armagh squad have been on the go a long time now and haven't managed to win an Ulster title, so that will definitely be in their heads. They've lost the past two finals on penalties and you'd expect them to be there or thereabouts again.

Obviously, Donegal are the holders and they're even stronger than they were last year.

They have a few big players back involved. Michael Murphy's the biggest one of those, Odhran McFadden-Ferry's back in there, Finbarr Roarty and Eoin McHugh too, so they've a deeper and better squad.

Jim McGuinness has always put massive stock on the Ulster Championship and this year will be no different.

Tyrone are an interesting case. They were relegated from Division One, but relegated with seven points and victories over Donegal and Dublin, which is pretty unique.

I don't think they will be overly concerned with where they're at. In fact, they will be relatively content, and knowing Malachy O'Rourke, Ryan Porter and Leo McBride, they will leave no stone unturned getting Tyrone ready to face Cavan in a fortnight's time.

For Monaghan, winning games has bred confidence. That's big going into a championship campaign, but it must be said that the standard in Division Two this year was quite poor.

A lot of Monaghan games I watched, they were very comfortable wins against Cork, Louth and Meath. The standard of those teams isn't comparable to what they'll face in Ulster.

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Ulster SFC preliminary round - Donegal v Derry

Venue: MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey Date: Sunday, 6 April Throw-in: 14:00 BST

Coverage: Watch live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website; text updates & in-play clips on BBC Sport website

Chrissy McKaigue says Brendan Rogers being ruled out of Derry's Ulster Championship opener against "overwhelming favourites" Donegal would be a massive blow for the Oak Leafers.

Rogers has been named at full-back for Sunday's Ballybofey contest which will be live on the live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website but his fitness has been in some doubt after he was forced to miss Derry's final two Allianz Football League games as they eventually suffered relegation.

Paddy Tally's struggling side are already minus former All-Stars Gareth McKinless and Conor McCluskey in addition to goalkeeper Odhran Lynch and Anton Tohill because of injury.

Ciaran McFaul, Lachlan Murray and Niall Loughlin have also been bothered by knocks in recent weeks although McFaul and Murray have been named in the starting team with Loughlin included in the substitutes.

With Lynch ruled out, goalkeeper Neill McNicholl is one of three championship debutants alongside Martin Bradley and Dan Higgins, who will partner Conor Glass in midfield.

"It [Rogers being ruled out) would be massive and possibly a game definer," said McKaigue over the fitness concerns in relation to his Slaughtneil club-mate.

"If Donegal play Michael Murphy from the start which you would imagine on the edge of the square, Brendan is either going to be needed there or he's going to be needed to play against a lot of potential Donegal midfield pairings, Ciaran Thompson, Michael Langan, Hugh McFadden and the list goes on.

"Donegal are very strong aerially and Brendan will be needed at some end of the pitch."

Murphy and McBrearty named on Donegal bench

Neither Murphy, skipper Patrick McBrearty nor Oisin Gallen have been named in the starting Donegal team announced on Friday although the trio are included in the substitutes and with the caveat that late changes on game day have become the norm.

Defender Finnbarr Roarty is in line for a championship debut after being named at right full-forward while Hugh McFadden will partner Michael Langan at midfield with Ciaran Thompson selected at centre half-forward.

McKaigue helped Derry to back-to-back Ulster titles in 2022 and 2023 and last season's Division One title but announced his inter-county retirement in November.

Derry's slump was started when Donegal ambushed them in their Ulster Championship opener at Celtic Park last April and given their drop to Division Two, amid their injury crisis, few are backing them to upset Donegal at MacCumhaill Park.

"You can label it as excuses or whatever but there is a very simple reality that Derry are missing a lot of players this year due to injury and unavailability which hasn't given Paddy Tally an easy start," added McKaigue.

"[And] it seems from the outside that Jim McGuinness has methodically planned his way right to this point where he did his work early in the league and primed himself for a massive performance in the first round of the championship."

Donegal: S Patton; F Roarty, B McCole, C Moore; R McHugh, C McGonagle, P Mogan; H McFadden, M Langan; D O Baoill, C Thompson, S O'Donnell, C O'Donnell, A Doherty.

Subs: G Mulreany, M Curran, S McMenamin, K McGettigan, J Brennan, J Mac Ceallabhui, M Murphy, O McFadden Ferry, O Gallen, P McBrearty, J McGee.

Derry: N McNicholl; D Baker, B Rogers, M Bradley; C Doherty, P McGrogan, E McEvoy; C Glass, D Higgins; E Doherty, Paul Cassidy, C McFaul; N Toner, S McGuigan, L Murray.

Subs: B McKinless, N Loughlin, P McGurk, D Cassidy, B McCarron, M Doherty, C Devlin, C McMonagle, R Mulholland, C Diamond, K Quinn.

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Kerry GAA legend Mick O'Dwyer has died at the age of 88.

The Waterville native won four All-Irelands with The Kingdom as a player before taking over as manager and establishing the county as the game's dominant force in the 1970s and '80s.

During a period of fierce rivalry with Kevin Heffernan's Dublin, O'Dwyer's Kerry side lifted Sam Maguire eight times in 12 seasons.

GAA president Jarlath Burns said O'Dwyer would go down as "one of the greatest of all time."

"He will be ed as an outstanding manager, motivator and mentor," Burns said.

"He was someone who could take a team and make it greater than the sum of its parts.

"While it is a sad day, it is also an opportunity to reflect on somebody who really changed the way we think of a manager's role with a team. His achievements are incredible."

O'Dwyer also had a hand in 23 Munster titles and 11 National League titles during his more than three decades involved with his native county.

He stepped down from Kerry in 1989 and went on to manage Kildare, Laois, Wicklow and Clare.

With Kildare, he won a pair of Leinster championships and took the county to the All-Ireland final of 1998, their first since 1935, where they were beaten by Galway.

He would add another Leinster title with Laois in 2003, the county's first in 57 years, and won the Tommy Murphy Cup with Wicklow.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin called O'Dwyer "an icon of Gaelic Games".

The Irish Prime Minister said: "Micko lived and breathed Gaelic football. He embodied everything good about the game - dedication, ambition, positivity and community."

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Donegal selector Colm McFadden warns that Derry have "the ability to turn us over" in the Ulster Championship opener on 6 April.

Just one month after Donegal defeated Derry in Division One, the sides meet in the preliminary round of the provincial championship in Ballybofey.

Donegal finished fourth in Division One as the top seven teams were separated by just two points, while Derry were relegated after being cut adrift with just one point.

"We know what Derry can produce and they have quality all over the field," said McFadden.

"Our boys will definitely have to get their heads in the right place. We will head into the game in the right frame of mind to try and get a result.

"Anything less than that, we know Derry have the ability to turn us over."

Despite leading in Ballyshannon, Derry let a late lead slip in the Division One match between the sides on 2 March as Donegal ran out 1-22 to 1-19 winners.

McFadden said that if Donegal let Paddy Tally's side build up a significant lead in the Ulster Championship then "it will be too big a scoreline to claw back".

"We'll have to tighten up on that and not allow them that big of a lead," said McFadden, who added Derry were unfortunate not to win more matches.

"Before the league even started we knew the teams in Division One were all quality opposition and anyone can beat anyone.

"There's nothing between the teams in Division One and the top teams in Division Two. It's going to be a tight Championship, particularly in Ulster.

"It's going to be tough but the players will look forward to it."

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Offaly t-manager Mickey Harte "makes a difference everywhere he goes", says Oisin McConville.

Harte, along with Declan Kelly, guided Offaly to the Division Three title after a 2-17 to 1-18 win over Kildare in the final.

It is a sixth league title with four different counties for Harte, including four triumphs in the past five seasons with three different teams.

"Everywhere he goes he definitely brings something," McConville said on the GAA Social podcast.

"There is a massive respect there so he is going to get a response from players."

Sunday's victory at Croke Park with Offaly also means he has won the a league in his first year in charge of Tyrone, Louth, Derry and now the Faithful County.

After winning Divisions One and Two with Tyrone in 2003 and 2016, Harte guided Louth to the Divisions Four and Three titles in 2021 and 2022, before coming out on top with Derry in the top tier last year.

"Hats off to him. His record is phenomenal, you can't argue with that," added 2002 All-Ireland winner McConville.

"He seems to have given a massive bounce to Offaly."

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Antrim and Fermanagh secured promotion and spots in the Ladies Football League Division Four Final after victories in high-scoring contests on Sunday.

The Saffrons earned a 5-8 to 3-10 win over last year's All-Ireland Intermediate champions Leitrim at Kingscourt with Fermanagh beating Sligo 5-12 to 3-13 at Tarmonbarry in county Roscommon.

Early goals from Omolara Danhunsi, Anna Mulholland and skipper Bronagh Devlin helped the Saffrons lead Leitrim 3-6 to 2-5 at half-time.

Nicole Jones fired in Antrim's fourth major in the second half with Devlin completing a 2-3 haul as she fired in the Saffrons' closing goal three minutes from time.

Fermanagh were determined to achieve promotion after losing in the Division Four semi-finals last season and Eimear Smyth's 1-8 and Joanne Doonan's 2-1 helped them battle past Sligo.

Sligo hit the opening three points but Doonan's opening goal in the 11th minute was soon followed by Smyth finding the net which helped the Erne women into a five-point advantage.

The Yeats County were back in front after Ciara Walsh and Cara King netted but their lead didn't last long as Doonan's second goal and a Cliodhna Martin strike left Fermanagh 4-4 to 2-6 up at the interval.

Fermanagh put further daylight between the teams after the resumption with a run of 1-3 which included their fifth goal from Sinead Barrett.

As the impressive Smyth continued to tag on points, Fermanagh were never really under threat in the closing quarter despite Carol Coleman's late Sligo goal and they can now look forward to the Division Four Final on 13 April.

In Division Two, Donegal were beaten 1-8 to 0-8 by Cork, who will face Galway in the decider, with the Rebels and Tribeswomen having secured promotion to Division One.

Cavan will meet Wexford in the Division Three Final safe in the knowledge that promotion has been secured.

The Breffni defeated Limerick 0-10 to 0-9 on Sunday in what was a dead rubber with both promotion and their final spot already achieved.

Lidl National Ladies Football League results

Division One

Dublin 2-12 Kerry 2-10

Kildare 4-10 Tyrone 2-8

Meath 2-12 Armagh 4-5

Waterford 2-13 Mayo 1-6

Division Two

Cork 1-8 Donegal 0-8

Galway 4-22 Clare 0-5

Westmeath 2-11 Monaghan 0-13

Tipperary 1-12 Roscommon 0-10

Division Three

Louth 7-12 Offaly 1-8

Cavan 0-10 Limerick 0-9

Down v Carlow - Down walkover

Wexford 3-9 Laois 0-10

Division Four semi-finals

Fermanagh 5-12 Sligo 3-13

Antrim 5-08 Leitrim 3-10

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Kerry clinched a 24th Allianz Football League title as they overcame Mayo 1-18 to 1-12 in the Division One Final at Croke Park.

The Kingdom fittingly became the first winners of the new Micheal O Muircheartaigh Cup being awarded to the winners of the Division One title in honour of the legendary Kerry native GAA commentator who died last June.

After the excitement of last weekend's final series of round-robin fixtures, the final was somewhat of a pedestrian affair with focus already turning to the championship which gets under way next weekend.

Mayo led 0-4 to 0-2 early on but Kerry suddenly were ahead as David Clifford intercepted a kickout from Mayo goalkeeper Colm Reape and set up Paul Geaney to find an empty net.

Kerry never trailed again as they led 1-9 to 0-7 at the interval with Clifford having ed 0-4 in the opening half.

A Ryan O'Donoghue point cut Kerry's lead to four after the restart but the Kingdom responded with four straight scores to lead by eight.

Mayo briefly rallied to reduce the the margin to three after 48 minutes as an Eoghan McLaughlin goal was followed by an O'Donoghue two-pointer.

However scores from Tony Brosnan and Clifford put Kerry back in firm control and the Kingdom superstar was close to notching a second goal late on when he struck the woodwork.

The six-point margin at the finish accurately reflected the 70 minutes of action as Clifford finished with 0-9 with his brother Paudie contributing 0-3 of Kerry's total.

In the curtain-raiser at Croke Park, Offaly t-manager Mickey Harte celebrated winning the Division Three title as the Faithful County edged out Kildare 2-17 to 1-18.

Offaly became the fourth county that Harte has won a Football League title with given his previous Division One and Division Two triumphs with his native Tyrone, Division Four and Division Three successes with Louth and last year's Division One victory with Derry.

Jack Bryant's early goal helped Offaly lead 1-10 to 0-10 at half-time.

An unanswered run of 1-3 - which included Cormac Egan's goal - kept Offaly in control even though Kildare did kick the final three scores.

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Tyrone have been relegated to Division Two of the Ladies Football League after losing out 4-10 to 2-8 against Kildare at Newbridge.

The sides were level three times in a close first half before Tyrone went in 1-4 to 1-3 in front at the break.

The Lilywhites netted first through Aoife Murnane before Chloe McCaffrey's deflected free found the Kildare net.

Kildare equalised on the restart before Róisín Byrne scored the first of her three goals with her second coming from a free on 37 minutes.

Byrne completed her hat-trick three minutes later when she flicked into the net from Gillian Wheeler's long punt.

Tyrone substitute Aoife McGahan netted on the stroke of full-time but the Ulster side fell well short and will be playing in Division Two next year.

Meanwhile, Armagh were beaten 2-12 to 4-5 by Meath in a Division One dead rubber at the Athletic Grounds.

The Orchard side had already secured a place in the final before Saturday's encounter.

Goals from Niamh Coleman, Kelly Mallon and Aoife McCoy helped Armagh to a 3-3 to 0-6 half-time lead.

Substitute Caoimhe McNally added Armagh's fourth goal but Meath hit back with Ciara Smyth netting before they levelled through Emma Duggan's goal.

Meath clinched victory when Duggan slotted over a free with the final play of the match.