County Derry Post

By Cahair O’Kane

sport@derrypost.com

Derry’s campaign started with a 2-09 to 1-09 victory over Mayo at Celtic Park, while Laois’ trip to Galway ended in a narrow defeat in Galway. Heaney knows that Laois will be desperate to win their home games and nothing will come easy in Portlaoise.

“Every team in this division will be looking to win their home games. Laois are a big, strong, powerful running side. They gave us a bit of a whipping down there in the league two years ago, they were very impressive that day.

“I saw a bit of the game with Galway and they almost got something from it, there was only a point in it with a couple of minutes to go. They got beat a bit around the middle of the field and that’s not like Laois, they’re usually big and strong in there so they’ll be looking to fix that.”

Since Laois knocked Derry out of the championship at Croke Park in 2005, they have met three times, with one win each and one draw. The last meeting was a classic encounter in last July’s qualifier, which Derry won by 1-18 to 2-11 in Breffni Park.

“We met them in the league last year and Conleith Gilligan pulled us out with a late free that made it a draw, then we met in the championship and it was one of the games of the season, we just sneaked through. No question, they’ll be looking to avenge that defeat and they’re targeting it as a game they need to win.”

Heaney admits, the past encounters they’ve had with Laois won’t have much bearing on Saturday. Derry are depleted by injury and Laois have been rocked by a series of early retirements – Chris Conway, Fergal Byron, Tom Kelly, Joe Higgins and Gary Fitzpatrick have stepped down from county colours.

“You can only play with the hand you’ve been dealt. If you look at our championship team from last year, you’ll see around 12 names of players we’ve been without at the start of this season.”

Among those names is Niall McCusker, who should return from the bruised ribs that have kept him out for five weeks. Conleith Gilligan is available for selection again and Paul Murphy has also recovered from a niggle.

But Derry’s plans were dealt a blow at training on Tuesday night when Eoin Bradley suffered an ankle injury and had to be carried off the turf at Owenbeg. Original fears of a break were unfounded but ligament damage will see him miss the Laois game.

Kevin McCloy is expected to return to form part of a formidable full-back line which still lacks the presence of Sean Marty Lockhart and Michael McGoldrick, while McCusker and Gilligan may also return.