Mickey Harte excited by Dublin test

Allianz NFL Division One   |   Derry v Dublin   |   Saturday, Celtic Park, 5pm

After winning an eighth game of the season and topping Division One in their first year in the top flight since 2015, Derry put their unbeaten run to the test against All-Ireland champions Dublin on Saturday.

The Dubs are coming in as the form team after Con O’Callaghan’s sizzling performance put Kerry to the sword on Saturday night.

With Derry safe in the league and well placed to book a spot in the final, Saturday offers a chance to pit themselves against the team to beat when the All-Ireland race kicks into gear later in the season.

It’s a repeat of last year’s Celtic Park blockbuster won by Brendan Rogers notching the winning point in the closing stages.

Mickey Harte knows this Saturday's game will be Derry's toughest test to date. (Photo: Ray Ryan / SPORTSFILE)

The Dubs reversed the result by hitting a barrage of goals in the league final. Derry will have much more important games coming down the tracks later in the season.

For Mickey Harte, he doesn’t see it as a chance to lay down a marker but it will still be an attractive fixture.

"It is a huge game and it is exciting to see them coming. I just wish they weren't playing so well the week before the game,” he said after Sunday’s win over Galway in Salthill.

“It is about us improving our performance, it is about us matching ourselves against different quality of opposition every time we go out and asking ourselves, 'how are we doing with these?' That's the game this week.”

Harte will have to plan without All-Star Gareth McKinless and goalkeeper Odhrán Lynch who are on their way back from hamstring injuries.Both players took part in the warmup on Sunday with different levels of involvement.

It remains to be seen whether Cormac Murphy can declare himself available for selection after breaking a finger in his man of the match performance against Tyrone.

"It’s touch and go, he might make panel, it all depends. It is the healing of his finger and depends how well it has healed at this stage,” Harte outlined.

The Derry boss was going to have to wait on further news on Conor Doherty’s injury picked up early in the Galway game that eventually forced him off before half-time.

"It's too early,” Harte said. “It is a knee injury and it will take the medics to get a look at it before we know but it was a bad injury. It was a clumsy sort of a tackle that wasn't good from our point of view.”

Derry and Dublin could potentially meet in the league final but Harte sees the showdown with Dessie Farrell’s men as a chance to take a look at where his side stack up.

"We are dealing with the top team in the country obviously and we have to see what we can do with what they present, that's going to be a really big ask,” he said.

"It is all about the learning process, the building blocks of experience into as many players as possible; about dealing with life at the top level and when you are in Division One you are doing that.”