A concerted tilt at an All-Ireland must be the next step for Derry and Sunday's Allianz League Division 1 final against Dublin will be vital in engineering belief for Mickey Harte's side, according to RTÉ GAA analyst Tomás Ó Sé.
Derry topped the round-robin phase of this year's top tier and are coming off back-to-back Ulster titles in 2022 and 2023, as well as the Club All-Ireland success for the contingent from Watty Graham's Glen.
With that momentum behind them, Ó Sé told the RTÉ GAA Podcast that Derry's ultimate target is becoming clearer.
"They're after winning back-to-back Ulsters. The next step is, it's not that it would be a disaster if they didn't win an All-Ireland but the next step has to be to compete at the very, very top level," he said.
"I think they have to target themselves against the Dublins and the Kerrys and whoever else is up there and I think that will be the big question for them.
"They had an unbelievable chance against Kerry [in last year's semi-final]. Kerry did so well to come out of that with a win last year and Derry will look back at that and say they're not far away.
"You have two teams contesting the Division 2 final who will be aiming to win Ulster but I think Derry, Mickey Harte has played it brilliantly this year.
"He has introduced players and I think he has questioned that if they're going to go all the way, they're probably going to have to have more strength in depth."
With Dublin awaiting in the league showpiece, Ó Sé added that it's not the result per se that is most important on Sunday but an ability to demonstrate that they can cope with the benchmark that the All-Ireland champions have set.
"I don't think their championship fails on Sunday because they don't win," he continued.
"But I do think that they have to come away from Dublin saying, 'Yeah, we're up there and we're on a par with them and we're not going to be blasted out of the water.'"
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow live updates on the Allianz Football League Division 1,2,3 and 4 finals and watch highlights on Allianz League Sunday, 9.30pm, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
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