Derry's year in review: The highest of highs and the lowest of lows

A year can be a long time in sport.

Derry seems to have embodied this saying perfectly, as the senior football team is in a completely different place moving into 2025 from where it started in 2024.

Mickey Harte was preparing to begin his tenure as manager of the Oak Leafers in the Dr McKenna Cup, with the county being outsiders for the Sam Maguire.

The Tyrone man entered the season looking to prove the doubters wrong and silence those fans that were not enthused about the appointment of the three-time All-Ireland-winning coach.

Having crushed the dreams of many Derry fans for years while in the dugout of their fiercest rivals, Harte would now attempt to bring success to the Oak Leaf County.

And he started perfectly.

Derry can now forever, unless the competition is resurrected, be the reigning Dr McKenna champions.

Harte guided the county to this pre-season trophy with a victory over Donegal and the other bogeyman of Derry football, Jim McGuinness, with many fans looking optimistically towards the league campaign.

They would be right to do so. 

The Oak Leaf County would have a phenomenal National League campaign, suffering only one league defeat to Dublin after Harte made a number of changes to the starting XV, with memorable victories against Kerry, Mayo, and Galway.

Harte’s side were an impressive attacking unit, scoring at a whim while being rock solid in defence, deservedly finishing top of the league.

This qualified them for the final in Croke Park, where they would face the one team that had been able to claim victory over Derry to this point in the season, Dublin.

It would prove to be the high point in Derry’s season.

Conor Glass lifted the trophy a lot following a mammoth battle with Dublin, in which many argued was the best game of football they had seen in a while, where the boring, stifling football that had plagued the sport for over a decade had been replaced by a display by two teams going blow for blow to lift the trophy.

Derry’s first league title since 2008.

Pundits and fans alike then started putting Derry from outsiders for the All-Ireland title into the conversation with the likes of Kerry, Dublin, and Galway to be crowned champions.

However, this is when the wheels would fall off the bus for Derry.

Derry’s grim reaper, McGuinness, would rear his head once again as Donegal were the first challenge for Derry in the defence of their Ulster Championship crown.

Donegal were given very little chance, with Harte’s side expected to begin their march to a third provincial title in a row.

However, McGuinness had expertly put together a plan to nullify the Derry attack and hit them on the counter, going for the jugular at every chance they had, resulting in a rout that would begin the march towards the Ulster title for Donegal.

Shock reverberated around the county and the GAA world at the result.

Derry’s weaknesses had been exposed.

Questions arose: would Harte continue with his tactics that brought him such success earlier in the season, or would he alter them to cover for the weaknesses that have been laid bare for all to see?

He chose the former, and this would essentially bring to an end any chance of Derry lifting the Sam Maguire.

In Derry’s All-Ireland group, they were confidently dispatched by eventual finalists Armagh and Galway before securing passage to the play-off with victory over Westmeath.

The writing was on the wall for Harte and his Derry side.

Whispers around the potential of the manager losing his job got louder and louder, despite his early season success.

Harte would guide Derry to the All-Ireland defeat at the hands of Kerry.

The Tyrone man would leave in July with fans thankful for their National League victory, but the majority were pleased he was gone, hopeful Derry and their impressive crop of current players could attract a manager that could bring their second All-Ireland title next year.

However, the saga for the position of Derry manager would begin.

Derry would search for around four months to secure Harte’s successor, with the likes of Rory Gallagher, James Horan, Karl Lacey, and Damian McErlain being linked with the job.

Paddy Tally would eventually be appointed manager of the county, another Tyrone man.

The poor end to the championship season, the saga that embroiled the appointment of the manager, led to a less optimistic view among fans regarding the future of the county, a matter of months when it seemed like Derry were at the pinnacle of the sport.

2024 was essentially a successful season for Derry, winning half of the competitions that they could secure, but the way it ended has fans worried that all the good work in recent seasons may be disrupted for a return to uncertain times, particularly with the prospect of entering 2025 with no idea how players, clubs, and coaches will adapt to the new rules that the sport has introduced to ‘improve’ the spectacle.