MONAGHAN MANAGER Seamus McEnaney is convinced that the Derry team that his side will meet on Saturday will be a totally different prospect than the team that played in last Saturday's Ulster minor league shield final.

"There is no doubt about that, I watched them earlier on this year and they are a very, very good side and any time you go to Celtic Park, you have your work cut out, because it's a very difficult place to perform in and a very difficult place to take a victory out of.

"Having said that though we will go out on Saturday well prepared, we have had a tough run-in here with club league matches every Tuesday night as well, although there are none this Tuesday night, thank God, but at the same time we've come through it with very few problems but then, these lads recover quite quickly from knocks and injuries generally and they can put those things behind them.

"I think the other thing that helps these lads too is this new minor age, U17, which means that these lads are not doing exams this year and that certainly helps from the commitment point of view, and the organisation point of view, as they can just concentrate on what we are doing."

So what do Monaghan know about Derry as they haven't played them this year?

"Well, as I said earlier, I have seen them twice this year and they are a well coached side. On top of that they probably have the best forward at this age level in the entire province of Ulster, a son of Seamus Downey's and they have a few other good forwards as well, but he is a special talent and while we have a few very nippy forwards ourselves, but he is an exceptional player.

"To be honest, at this moment in time, I'd say he is one of the best under 17 forwards in the entire country, a fantastic player. We know going to Derry that it is going to take a huge effort to get a result and anything less than that will not get us through."

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