Derry selector Paul McIver has baulked at the suggestion that the Oak Leafers have overachieved this year.

Speaking to the press in the absence of his father and manager Brian, who was serving a touchline ban, McIver claimed Derry are exactly where they expected to be at the start of the year.

"I wouldn't say that we have over achieved. We are just going about our business the way we want to go," he said.

"You in the media might think we have overachieved. But we set ourselves targets that we want to reach and we are getting there.

"The first thing is, these boys are good players. The talent has always been in Derry. I know the media over the last week have all said that this Derry team doesn't have the capabilities of past Derry teams. We would argue that we have a load of players with a lot of All-Ireland minor experience, a lot of Hogan (Cup) experience. Chrissy McKaigue played in Australia, represented Ireland. We have some fantastic players.

"We don't see that we have made a massive step. We're just setting targets and setting levels that we want to achieve and we want to get to and that's the way these boys are progressing."

He added: "We were annoyed that people said that we sent a second string down to Mayo last week.

"We don't have a second string. This is a panel of players. Every single one of them is equally as good. We found it a wee bit disrespectful to the rest of the players.

"If you look at the team that finished, a lot of the boys who played against Mayo were playing. That is the strength of this Derry team, we have a serious panel of players." Tweet

Most Read Stories