DAMIAN Cassidy's honeymoon period in the Derry managerial hot-seat is well and truely over as the Oak Leafers prepare to welcome their old adversaries Tyrone to Celtic Park on Saturday night.
The former Clonoe championship winning boss was hailed as the returning Messiah when he took up the reigns of his native county just over twelve months ago, but after an indifferent debut season in '09, the Bellaghy clubman will be demanding a marked improvement from his charges this term.
Two painful reversals to Tyrone, in both League and Championship, highlighted the gulf that Cassidy most seek to bridge before Derry can be genuinely regarded as livewire contenders for top honours in the country. The 0-15 to 0-7 hammering in the Ulster semi at Casement was an especially sobering experience though Cassidy contends that injuries and suspension hit them hard. He feels that Derry will be leading contenders for Championship success this year, as long as they can stay injury-free.
" I have every belief in this squad. I think the Derry squad is good enough to win an Ulster championship. That's the first hurdle that they have to get over in order to catapult themselves forward. They're capable of doing that and the squad is good enough to do that.
" You can't go to the summit without getting over the various stages and peaks. That's where we're at, but I've every belief in them," the 1993 All-Ireland winner added.
" What I need as a manager is getting that bit of luck, that we don't get hammered with injuries at the wrong time of the year. While we had 15 fit players on the pitch (against Tyrone), we were still short six or seven players and certainly five of them would have been starting in that particular game. They were very important players that were hard to replace."
He continued: "I could not believe the ill-luck we suffered last year, particularly for that championship match against Tyrone. We were missing Fergal Doherty, Patsy Bradley, Brian Mullan, James Kielt, Paul Bradley, Enda Muldoon and Paul Carton. You certainly cannot replace players of this calibre at the drop of a hat. When you are playing against a side like Tyrone, you need all your big guns firing."
However their hot shot attacker Paddy Bradley is unlikely to play any part in the opener against Tyrone on Saturday night. The Glenullin clubman has been unable to play or train due to a heel injury, which has been "slow to shake off", according to Cassidy.
The long-serving Enda Muldoon will also miss the entire league campaign, after breaking a bone in his foot for the third time in 15 months recently though experienced defender Kevin McCloy has confirmed his availability for Derry's 2010 campaign after rubbishing rumours he was about to retire from the senior county scene.
The 31-year-old Lavey star endured an injury hit 13 months following a double hernia operation in December 2008 and was a notable absentee from Damien Cassidy's McKenna Cup squad when it got together earlier this month.
His absence, coupled with persistent groin problems, prompted some pundits to suggest it was the end of the road for the former All Star defender but McCloy has come through a gruelling rehab program and is now ready to resume his inter-county career.
Defeats to Down and Antrim meant that Derry failed to progress out of their group in the Dr McKenna Cup but Cassidy wasn't overly-concerned.
"Winning would have been nice but the way we are situated at the minute with the number of injuries we are picking up, I don't think we could have coped with an extra game if I'm truthful," admitted Cassidy.
"To an extent I've been happy with what I have taken from the competition. There is still the difficulty of not being able to do anything in November or December. You don't have your University players for the McKenna Cup, so you are going into play the National League with certain players not having been involved in the panel for three months. That's the problem.
" The other difficulty is picking up knocks when you are already carrying a few and that has invariably came back to haunt us. Certainly there have been players we have introduced who have stood up and said 'I am good enough'.
