The landscape of this Ulster semi-final has been transformed by Derry's lengthening injury-list. Their three top scorers, Oliver Collins, Geoffrey McGonigle and Gregory Biggs, have all fallen prey to some mishap or another, although McGonigle was cleared to play on Thursday night. In recent years Derry have inexorably outstripped Down as the province's second team, but there's only so much weakening a team can take before it becomes an effective handicap. There are, however, a couple of reasons to believe that this point hasn't been reached. Derry spent their first season in Division One and it will have benefited them enormously, particularly as they were competitive enough in a number of matches, only narrowly beaten by Laois and comfortable winners in the play-off with Kerry. A number of the county footballers have come on board, apparently beguiled by Greg Blaney's record of being Ulster's only dual medallist. Kieran McKeever debuts at centre forward and Sean Martin Lockhart, a really talented hurler, is on the bench. McKeever's brother Emmet, a football medallist two years ago, is captain. Down have their own injury concerns but, more importantly, haven't been hurling at the same level and it showed against New York. Derry's problems remain but won't be critical until another day.