The relegation battle in Division One in Derry is nothing short of madness

Maybe it really is one of the most competitive club scenes in the land.

Derry GAA prides itself on the intense devotion of its people to its games. That leads to fierce on-field rivalries. That leads to deadly competitions. Before Ballinderry and Slaughtneil took turns at asserting complete control over the senior football championship this decade, and winning Ulsters along the way, six different clubs had shared the John McLaughlin Cup in the seven seasons between 2004 and 2010. https://www.sportsjoe.ie/gaa/four-powerful-images-sum-hardiest-midfielder-gaa-152466 The Oak Leaf county is going through a bit of a restructure this season. As part of a prolonged plan to strengthen from the bottom up, Derry have been populating the junior division with more clubs as the intermediate ranks were facing a '2 down, 1 up' format for this last number of years. By the end of 2018, the bottom tier of the Derry football leagues will have over a third of the teams when, only a while ago, there were just eight clubs there. Now, there will be 14 in Division 2, 12 in Division 1B and 12 in Division 1A. To achieve that though, four must go from the top. Two are already relegated, Glenullin and Claudy but the final two relegation spots are being fought out between six different teams. https://twitter.com/CahairOKane1/status/1032363696587194368 As far up as ninth place in the 16-team league, the great Bellaghy are still in trouble, even with a game in hand. Most have just one fixture still to play with Kilrea and Greenlough occupying the last two spots in the drop zone at present but both could rescue themselves with final day action. What's most dramatic is that 12th place, fifth from bottom, will have to play a playoff game against Banagher (in the division below) to determine their fate so the bottom five will all be in danger of the drop. What's even more dramatic than that is that clubs like Bellaghy - with two games left - will play on Friday (tonight) and Sunday. Remaining fixtures (Friday) Glen v Coleraine Swatragh v Bellaghy Kilrea v Claudy (Sunday) Coleraine v Glenullin Lavey v Newbridge Swatragh v Slaughtneil Ballinascreen v Greenlough The Loup v Dungiven Ballinderry v Bellaghy Glen v Magherafelt Greenlough, already in the drop zone, play fellow strugglers Ballinascreen knowing that a win will put them ahead of them on head to head but score difference will come into play if more than two teams are tied on points. If Bellaghy were to lose to Swatragh (also in danger) on Friday, they head to one of their biggest enemies Ballinderry with their place in the top table on the line. They could drop from ninth to the second tier in one weekend and the most successful club in Derry could slip out. This is madness.