WHEN Derry take the field at Croke Park in tomorrow's Church & General National Football League quarter final, it will be the county's sixth successive year lining up at the knockout stages of the competition.

Back in 1992 when winning that year's League was the first stirrings of the most successful spell in the county's history, Kieran McKeever was the right hand man in a formidable corner back pairing with Tony Scullion. In a team which features only half a dozen survivors of the side that won the NFL five years ago, McKeever is still there and captaining the team.

"It means a wee bit more responsibility," he says of the appointment, "but you still have to concentrate on your game and it doesn't hinder me. I like to shout and roar anyway. I'm just back after four weeks off with the flu but I've kept a good training programme and feel good. I enjoy being captain and being about the place even if I'm not able to train."

His experience of quarter finals is mixed. Each year Derry have won this round, they have gone on to win the League but also to perform poorly in the championship. His worst quarter final came four years ago when Derry lost an ill tempered match to Donegal and he was sent off but within six months, McKeever was on the team that brought home Derry's first All Ireland.

He is familiar with the deductions drawn by those who see a pattern in successful League campaigns being followed by championship disappointment.

"We've talked about it but it's not really a reason for doing badly in the championship. Maybe winning does affect the way you think. In your mind, you're putting in the workrate and feel better about yourself than you should but I don't think it was a major factor.

"I felt at the time that 1993 was a blessing in disguise but that's not saying losing in the League and winning the All Ireland were connected. By 1993, the team had been rising for a couple of years and the championship was our goal. Then you win the All Ireland and you've got your goal. It's very hard to keep going because although you think you're doing more, you're not, there's something missing.

"You have to strive for consistency. If it's true that you've only five games that you're going to play well, you can't guarantee, they'll be in the championship."

Circumstances are now different from those which prevailed four years ago. Then Derry had a fairly settled team which didn't need fine tuning during the later stages of the League. Like Dublin two years ago, an early withdrawal to concentrate on the championship made sense.

This season, manager Brian Mullins has used a number of layers from the county's extensive under age resource, including McKeever's brother Emmet. Older, familiar names have slipped into the sidings and whether they re-emerge is open to question. With up to a third of last years championship team likely to change, extra matches in the spring make more sense both for management and newcomers to the team.

For maybe five under 21s starting on the team, the experience of playing Croke Park at senior level is completely different to their under age experiences and can only improve their awareness of the demands at this level.

For most of 1993 and the following year, Derry were regarded as invincible. Surprised in the quarter final of the 1994 League by Westmeath, they remained favourites to retain their All Ireland. Defeat that May in a memorable encounter with Down broke the team more dramatically than anyone foresaw.

Manager Eamonn Coleman was sacked and a year later his successor Mickey Moran departed in different but equally controversial circumstances. Dublin's Brian Mullins, a headmaster in neighbouring Donegal, was seen as someone with the necessary stature and force of personality to command the respect of the players and steam roll any lingering resentments.

His first year appears to have taught him that new blood was necessary. Recent championships have been marked by the unwelcome rise of Tyrone whose emerging team, Derry had earlier this decade held in a tight psychological headlock. A bitter and controversial confrontation during which four men were sent off in 1995 was followed last year by a sharp, stylish performance at the end of which Tyrone were most unlucky to win by only five points.

Does McKeever feel Derry were taken by surprise?

"By last year? Completely. It was a massive shock to me. I was 110 per cent sure we were going to win but the way we played - no hunger, no workrate ... with about 10 or 15 minutes to go, I realised we were in trouble but still I never thought we would be beaten. All we had to do was shout, get people going but still we got caught not releasing ball and looked dead on our feet.

"You'll see a fresher approach this year. There's been a lot of team building. You'll see new ideas, new approaches a lot of new faces. There won't be a different pattern but it will be more of a mixed game. We're not just a running team anymore."

Despite the county's success at under age levels, the numbers graduating successfully to the senior team have been low enough to suggest that the 1993 team can not be adequately replaced. McKeever knows the failings of the past but is confident about the latest generation.

"I wouldn't say that because players win an All Ireland, you need those same players again. Footballers are like food, they have a sell by date and that's hard for everyone to understand. I find it hard but the younger players have added a new spirit and are all as good if not better than those they're replacing."