Derry captain Mark Lynch hopes the disappointment of recent All-Ireland championship exits will motivate he and his team-mates to defeat Down and enjoy a long summer.
Derry take on Down at Celtic Park this Sunday and in the wake of three years without winning an Ulster championship opener or advancing out of the qualifiers, Lynch is hoping to turn their fortunes around.
"There have been a lot of disappointments and we fell short a lot of the times. But we'll not dwell on it too much. I think we have to take it game by game and prepare as well as you can because those times we've failed, we have prepared well. There's no excuses that way. We just didn't carry it onto the field, so for the players that will drive us on and hopefully that will be a driving factor come Down and hopefully we'll come out on the right side of it," he told Highland Radio.
Derry's match against Down in the Ulster championship is our live game on Off The Ball this Sunday. Commentary comes from Dave McIntyre and Aaron Kernan, with Colm Parkinson on the sideline. Throw-in at Celtic Park is at 2pm.
