**McKenna Cup Final

Derry v Tyrone, Athletic Grounds, 7.30pm**

Tyrone are bidding for a little slice of history on Saturday night at the Athletic Grounds. If Mickey Harte's side can defeat Derry in the McKenna Cup final, they will become the first county to win the competition five times in a row.

During Harte's 14-year reign, his Tyrone teams have been renowned for many things and one of them is the way they always take this competition seriously. It has generally served them well. Championship success has followed McKenna success and last year they went all the way to the All-Ireland semi-finals, albeit following relegation from Division I in the Allianz League.

Harte likes to get his strongest team on the field as early in the year as possible, and in their most recent game, the 1-13 to 0-9 semi-final win over Fermanagh, the big guns were back. Seán Cavanagh, Mattie Donnelly and Ronan McNamee came off the bench, while Darren McCurry, Mark Bradley, Conor McAliskey, Cathal McCarron and Colm Cavanagh were all on from the start.

Tyrone have been convincing winners in their four games. Before the Fermanagh win, they recorded three from three in Section A, beating Queens (3-17 to 0-11), Derry (1-16 to 4-6) and Antrim (2-9 to 0-6). 

Harte has used the McKenna Cup to give game time to a number of players from Tyrone's All-Ireland U21 winning side of 2015, but  a familiar looking line-up is expected for Saturday's final as Tyrone look to make it five in a row, both in terms of games won and titles won. However, they will be without Peter Harte and Aidan McCrory as the pair are nursing minor injury concerns.

Derry's last McKenna Cup title win was in 2011 and under the new management this season of Damian Barton, the Oak Leafers have reached the pre-season decider. Derry beat Antrim (4-16 to 2-12) and Queens (0-17 to 2-8) to finish as best runners-up behind Tyrone on Section A, and they were solid winners over Cavan in last Sunday's semi-final, downing the Breffni County on a 1-17 to 1-10 scoreline.

Derry had a notably enhanced attacking system in the Cavan win, with Ryan Bell (1-5 from play), Cailean O'Boyle, James Kielt, Eoin Bradley and Enda Lynn all thriving in a system which allowed much attacking drive and movement. “Statistically Derry have been very good defensively in the last few years, but the problem is you can’t win games unless you score and we have to address that," said Barton after the game.

Derry are expected to be without Mark Lynch (groin) and Emmett McGuckin (hamstring) for the final, which takes place at 7.30pm at the Athletic Grounds. Tyrone are bidding for a 14th title overall, and a ninth of the Harte era, while Derry are chasing title number 11.