Senior status back on

Having lost their first game in the Round Robin series to regain senior status against Seapoint, Derry have now put themselves right back in contention following last weekend's bonus point victory at Monivea.

The other game saw Seapoint beat Richmond 38-12, on Saturday, which means the Leinster men are now top of the group with nine points, Derry and Monivea have five points each with Richmond pointless.

This weekend Derry are at home to Richmond (KO 2pm), while Seapoint have to travel to Monivea.

The Judges Road men are now in control of their own destiny and a bonus point victory over Richmond would guarantee automatic promotion depending on the result of the Monivea game or they could go into a playoff against AII Ireland League Division Three side Portadown.

"If we want to be a senior club again we may need one or maybe two victories, but we are now in a position where we have wanted to be all season," he said.

"This season we decided to not take part in the Towns Cup to ensure that we gave ourselves a good chance to regain senior and at the minute that is all we have done, given ourselves a chance.

"It was quite emotional for us all on Saturday; we were really happy with the effort the boys put in and their attitude was great.

"Now we prepare for the Richmond match on Saturday and if the support is anything like last weekend it should be a memorable occasion."

The Kiwi also admits that his side have a fantastic chance of going up this weekend, as he feels Monivea will be no push over when they come up against round robin leaders Seapoint.

"If can win and get the five points which we normally do then we'll at least have a play-off but Seapoint have to travel to Monivea, where they have lost twice in their previous play-off games and Monivea who are a decent side will be very much up for the game."

Lynch was also thrilled that his players came through last weekend's win in Galway unscathed, while he's hopeful that David Funston will return to the squad for the Richmond encounter.

"We were lucky we didn't get any injuries at Monivea and Simon Logue played the full 80 minutes; I'm hoping David will return after his ankle injury, while Bob McKillop has one or two bumps and bruises, so we'll wrap him in cotton wool this week, so he's fit for Saturday," concluded Lynch.