Derry midfielder Conor Glass said any piece of silverware would be "fantastic" after his side inched closer to a Division 1 final after a five-point away win over Mayo this afternoon.
Mickey Harte's side recovered from their blip at home to Dublin, a blistering period either side of half-time putting them into a winning position in Castlebar.
While they had to weather a final-quarter rally from Mayo, who whittled a nine-point deficit down to two at one stage, a late burst of points saw them safely home.
"We weren't really focused on the league final, to be honest. We were just looking forward to getting the two points," Glass told RTÉ Sport after the game.
"This is my first time personally playing in Castlebar. Fantastic effort from the boys, it's not an easy challenge coming up against Mayo, especially on their home patch."
Derry aren't quite assured of a place in the league decider, though they would need to lose at home to Roscommon, with both Dublin and Kerry winning their final games and the latter requiring a 16-point swing to pip the Ulster champions on score difference.
While some managers have hinted at their ambivalence about winding up in a league final, Glass says Derry can't afford to be so cavalier about silverware and also are afforded greater leeway by the Ulster Championship schedule.
"Any piece of silverware is going to be fantastic, especially for a county like Derry that has lacked it over the last 10 or 20 years," says Glass.
"The likes of Diarmuid Baker has only played in Croke Park once with his club in an intermediate final.
"It's going to be special for those boys, regardless of whether it's a league final or not. So, we're looking forward to it.
"We've one more game against Roscommon. Get as much out of that game as possible and look forward to two weeks time.
"We're unlike the Connacht Championship in that we have a couple of weeks after the league final so at least we'll get a bit of refreshing (before Donegal).
"Get some time and get some freshness into us and look forward to Donegal."
Mayo manager Kevin McStay was relatively relaxed in the wake of the defeat, praising his side for their late rally.
They appeared set for a heavy defeat until Paul Towey forced home a 56th minute goal, sparking a frenetic few minutes in which Ryan O'Donoghue almost lobbed a shot into an empty goal, the ball just clearing the crossbar.
The 2023 league champions were already assured of safety before throw-in after Roscommon slumped to defeat against Kerry.
"We were a little bit off it in the third quarter and they built a significant lead.
"But credit to the Mayo lads, we kept at it. Started having a look at trying to get a few goal chances, we did very, very well in that regard. And brought it back down from nine to two or three which showed great effort.
"With a bit more composure... Ryan tells me there he was actually going for the goal, he was chipping him. I thought he was going for a point but he said absolutely not, he was just trying to make sure it wouldn't be short. If that ball goes in, it's game on then.
"But in an overall sense, Derry were the better team. I wouldn't for a minute try and argue otherwise.
"But we got plenty out of it too. We're in a different phase now, getting ready for championship fairly soon. We'd a tough couple of weeks training and so on. We got all that done.
"We knew we were safe before throw-in. All in all, Round 6 of the league, we're safe two games early. Happy days with that.
"The form is a little bit off but other than that, happy enough."
