Derry midfielder Brendan Rogers believes claiming the county's first Division 1 Allianz Football League title in 16 years could prove a significant step on their quest for Sam Maguire.
The Oak Leaf County are back-to-back Ulster champions but until Sunday's dramatic win over Dublin, their last national silverware had been the Division 3 crown in 2021. The Dubs beat them by seven points in the Division 2 decider last year.
Derry have only won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship once, in 1993, and were semi-finalists last year and in 2022.
"Getting up the steps in Croke Park at any stage is important, and nothing to be turning your nose up at," Rogers told Marty Morrissey on RTÉ Radio 1.
"But to win a Division 1 national title, it's probably a bit more significant, in terms of the journey we’re on.
"It keeps proving to us that we’re good enough on the big stage. Obviously you have to keep doing that but that’s the nature of where we came from a few years ago.
"It’s an important milestone. Especially when you’re playing against successful teams like Dublin, and in Croke Park as well. It just adds that little bit of extra importance to it."
Derry twice looked to have thrown away victory, coughing up a three-point lead at the end of normal time, and conceding a last-gasp goal to Greg McEneaney in extra-time. But they kept their composure to win 3-1 on penalties.
"I always felt we had a good tune in the game and it was probably a case of our own chances being missed that kept Dublin in the game," said Rogers. "We never put them away the way we should have.
"We have a lot of good young lads coming into the squad so it’s the first time in a while you would have said we have a larger panel we can make use of.
"We did that. We lost Gareth [McKinless] quite early on, Pádraig McGrogan and Niall Loughlin had to go off, so testament to those guys to come on and make an impact.
"That meant we had pretty good legs going into extra-time.
"We were comfortable with where we were at but the game probably didn’t look that comfortable for neutrals."
"To constantly have that drive, hunger and passion, you can hear it in his voice that he just wants to win."
Rogers has been impressed with the drive of three-time All-Ireland-winning boss Mickey Harte in his first year as manager.
"It’s that winning mentality that he has. He has been about sports teams for at least 30-odd years now and has been competing at the top level all the time.
"To constantly have that drive, hunger and passion, you can hear it in his voice that he just wants to win. It certainly rubs off on the team.
"Maybe that’s why we set our stall out to win the McKenna Cup and the league at the start of the year. We want to win everything and that’s the competitive nature in him. You feed off that and the energy around the camp is brilliant.
"It was controversial to some eyes that he [a Tyrone man] came to Derry but ultimately he wants to win. He feels that there’s something in this group that he wants to be a part of and that he feels he can have an impact on.
"It has been a good few months so far. He has got the most out of some of the younger lads who were maybe on the fringes before. Sometimes it just takes a bit of a difference voice to bring that out."
Derry don't have too much time to rest on their laurels as they will face a Donegal side led by another All-Ireland winner - returning manager Jim McGuinness - in an Ulster SFC quarter-final on 20 May.
"It guarantees you nothing going forward, in many ways we have to draw a line under it and turn our heads towards the championship," he said.
"Ultimately, Donegal are in the same place. They won Division 2 so their form and confidence will be good coming off the back of that.
"It’s brilliant to know you’re doing things right but ultimately you have to keep doing it right.
"There are plenty of learnings from that game [against Dublin], that can be hard to get, usually you get them more from losses.
"There is plenty to look at and it’s hopefully going to be an exciting time for us. Momentum is good at the minute, if we can keep that going."
Watch Monaghan v Cavan in the Ulster Football Championship on Sunday from 3.15pm on RTÉ2, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates from all matches on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Follow a live blog on New York v Mayo in the Connacht Football Championship on Sunday from 8pm on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
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