They finished behind Galway and Roscommon in Division Two last season and will have Dublin and Kildare for company this season, but Derry should still be vying for promotion this season says Brendan Rogers.
On the face of it, the Oak Leafers will have a tougher task on their hands in 2023 with Dublin welcoming back former Footballer of the Year Jack McCaffrey to their squad while Paul Mannion is also set to make his county comeback when he recovers from an ankle injury.
Kildare also beat Dublin and Monaghan in Division One last season and drew with Kerry. Rogers knows plenty of other teams will harbour similar ambitions to Derry, but feels the Ulster Champions need to set the bar high.
Read more: Armagh targeting fast start to 2023 with new faces to feature in Dr McKenna Cup
“When we were playing the league last year the sole focus was to win the league, it’ll be the same this year,” said Rogers
“We don’t want to entertain anything else, we don’t want to entertain second best, we want to achieve as much as we can whether that be League, Championship, McKenna Cup - you always want to win.
“We’re not too privy to having success so we’ll not be turning it away in any competition we’re in, so we’ll be trying to go for promotion this year and try to grow a bit as a team and hopefully take that into the Championship campaign.
“On paper you would look at the teams in Division Two this year, and you would say it’s definitely got a lot of pedigree in it.
“I suppose the focus is probably going to be on Dublin and Kildare but make no mistake about it, Meath have a new management set up, Cork have a changed management set up from the League campaign last year.
“Even the teams that have been there or thereabouts for a while will probably be more competitive as well so it’s small factors like that, that make it that wee bit more competitive. It’s going to be an interesting league.”
Rory Gallagher’s men open their 2023 season with a trip to Brewster Park to take on Fermanagh on Sunday, January 8 before hosting Tyrone at Owenbeg on Wednesday, January 11.
After their Dr McKenna Cup campaign, their attention switches to their Division Two opener against Limerick at Owenbeg.
However, the standout tie in Division Two will be the meeting of the Ulster and Leinster champions in round five at Celtic Park on Saturday, March 4.
“One thing is for sure it’ll definitely be exciting,” added Rogers.
“The game is going to be in Celtic Park so there’ll be a lot of fans interested just to get seeing Derry playing against the top teams again.
“From a team perspective you’re going to be playing a team with a lot of the players that have won five-in-a-row All-Irelands. What a pedigree of a team that you want to be matching yourselves up against and if you can become as consistent as they have over the last number of years, that will be phenomenal.
“The learnings you can take from any team, yes Dublin may have a lot of experience, but we can’t say they’re better than any other team.
“We see ourselves as all equals in the League and we’ll try to approach it that way but it’s probably going to be the standout tie.”
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