Quinn urges teammates to finish the job against Nemo

ST VINCENT’S captain Tomas Quinn will be warning his teammates not to take their feet off the accelerator after Sunday’s sensational win over reigning champions Crossmaglen.

Nemo Rangers, the only club in the country with a haul of All-Irelands greater than the south Armagh side, now await the Dublin and Leinster champions in the final at Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day and a deeper dig into the history books reveals a note of warning for Vincent’s.

Three years ago Portlaoise got the better of Cross at the last four stage before losing the decider in disappointing fashion to Ballina. Current Cross manager Donal Murtagh reminded Vincent’s of that fact after the game in Navan and implored them to go on and finish the job.

“That’s obviously the challenge,” said Quinn. “There’s no point in beating Crossmaglen and then going and losing on St Patrick’s Day. The ultimate goal is to win the All-Ireland.

“It’s way too soon to be looking towards Nemo but, when we do, we’ll be concentrating on our own game, like we always do.”

Of all the Vincent’s players, Quinn has by far the most experience of running out onto the Croker Park pitch thanks to his lengthy involvement with the Dublin senior panel, but he is looking forward to experiencing the venue with his club colleagues.

“It’s totally different. I go to most club All-Irelands if I get the chance. With Dublin, the place is generally full. That’s different for the club game. The atmosphere will be unique. This will be special with the club.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve been watching teams like Cross, Nemo and Ballina play on Paddy’s Day and you wonder what it would be like.

“We have a chance anyway. We’re there, which is the main thing and we’ll worry about the rest of it in the weeks to come.”

Cross’s defeat at the weekend took most of the country by surprise but more pertinent was the manner in which they were beaten.

Vincent’s were electric in the opening half and enjoyed a 10-point lead at the break.

They managed it by ignoring the perils that come with playing Crossmaglen. Rather than get sucked into an attritional battle, the Dublin side elected to play at speed and the game plan obviously played off. “You never put a figure on the amount of points you want to be up,” said Quinn. “We took our points and our goal chances when we got them.

“We knew we could play like that. We weren’t going to worry about the other team. You just have to focus on your own game. We had our game plan and we stuck to it all year. There’s no point changing what we’ve done now,” Quinn added.