PREVIEW: Kildare hoping to serve up a Valentine's Day special

Back in February 2023 Derry were the visitors to St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, for Round 4 of the Allianz Football League Division 2.

The Oak Leaf brigade, won comfortably and went on to gain promotion to Division 1 and, while Kildare retained their Division 2 status then, the following year they were demoted to Division 3, having failed to win a single game.

Fortunes have changed since last season (2025) when The Lilies gained promotion to Division 2 before going on to win The Tailteann Cup, which guarantees a place in the 2026 All-Ireland series.

For Derry, things have plummeted, as they were relegated to Division 2 last season, going through their league campaign with six losses and one draw.

In the Ulster Championship they lost out to Donegal in the preliminary round by ten points, while in the All-Ireland Series, they operated in Group 4 along with Armagh, Dublin and Galway; again they failed to win a game, gaining a draw against Galway.
So 2025 was a season to be forgotten, hard to believe it was even worse than Kildare's season of 2024, but there you are.
In the opening round of this season's Allianz Football League, Division 2, Derry lost to Meath, however in Round 2 they got the better of Tyrone, who Kildare drew with the previous week.

So while it might be hard to believe it but that Derry win two weeks ago was actually The Oak Leafers first victory since they defeated Dublin (on penaties) in the Division 1 league final of 2024.

Ciarán Meenagh is now the Derry senior football manager, ratified in July 2025 for the 2026 season. The Tyrone native previously served as interim manager in 2023 and has been involved with the set-up since 2018, coaching the team to back-to-back Ulster titles. He is joined by former captain Chrissy McKaigue on the management team.

There is little doubt that win over Tyrone will give the Derry boys a surge of confidence as it is the first sign of a resurgence in nearly two years.

Have they turned the corner or is that reading too much into just one win?
In fairness they played well for long periods in their opening game against Meath, a game they dominated for the opening twenty minutes or so going into a 1-5 to 0-2 lead, even allowing for the fact that the goal, from a long punt in from Paul Cassidy with the Meath custodian making a bit of a Horlix of it, the ball squirming out of his grasp and into the net.
Derry lost their way though as half time approached and went into the break trailing 0-11 to 1-5.

In fairness they did get that lead back to a single point before falling away again, The Royals winning 0-19 to 1-13, a game played in Croker.

Last time out against Derry the visitors, Tyrone, somewhat fortuitously led at the break by a point, their goal coming just on the break, before Derry's Lachlan Murray was black carded.

With fifty minutes gone Tyrone still led by one but Derry's Brendan Rogers hit a huge two-point effort to lead 1-12 to 1-11, 24 minutes gone.

Derry hit back, a McGuigan free and Conor McAteer's point with his first touch handed Derry the lead heading up the finishing straight, a position consolidated by McGuigan's first from play to put Derry 1-15 to 1-12 up with five to go.
Tyrone had their chances but Derry held out for a win, their first since 2024.

And what of Kildare?
An excellent draw that so easily could have been a win with a late effort falling just short but that day we saw something from this Kildare side, which was very pleasing. They fought for everything, even after losing a player to a second yellow, they hung in, kicked some brilliant late two-pointers to left with a well deserved point.

In front of a big attendance at Cedral St Conleth's Park, they firmly put Offaly to the sword, leading by nine at half-time, letting them back into it but then pulling away again to win by that same nine point margin.

A lot to like about that display, and that is without going over board on the result and, while Offaly looked poor at times, a lot can be taken from that win. They are young, very young, three U20 players started that evening and manager Flanagan expressed his satisfaction at the way is squad are playing.

And so it is back to Cedral St Conleth's Park on Valentine's Day (evening) a game timed for 6.30.

Kildare expect up to five of their walking wounded to be back available. However, barring injuries in the meantime, most of those, if not all, will have to do with a place in the match day squad.

A big game for both, a win for Kildare would really set them up, a win for Derry would propel them right up the table.

All to play for and with players such as Conor Glass, Shane McGuigan, Brendan Rogers and Lachlan Murray they are a side with a lot of experience and packed with talented players and hungry for success.

Valentine's Day Special from The Lilies?
Hopefully!

READ NEXT: Changes aplenty in full list of Kildare SFC club managers for 2026