'Mossy' craves all-Ireland win with Vincent's

All-Ireland medals are loose change in Kerry and indeed similar could be said of Crossmaglen with the All-Ireland club successes that have come their way.

It is a different story in Dublin. The men from the capital have gone through a famine of late. Men like St. Vincent's forward Tomas Quinn who craves All-Ireland senior glory.

Previewing tomorrow's AIB All-Ireland football semi-final against Crossmaglen Rangers, Quinn confesses that while Vincent's Dublin and Leinster successes came in a whirlwind fashion, the break over Christmas has helped the side zone in on their All-Ireland campaign, although he is fully aware that a victory over the men from Cross will not come easily.

"I don't think there is anything I can say - Crossmaglen have said it all themselves in their results on the pitch, and it doesn't need me to talk about them," Quinn said.

"We have just been worrying about ourselves over the last couple of weeks and focusing on what we do and what has got us here and trying to make sure we produce that and produce a big performance on the day."

Quinn believes that in the run up to tomorrow's game, the focus in the Vincent's camp cannot be about the Rangers or their abundance of talent, as he believes that an over-analysis of the Armagh men could have a negative effect.

"We can't control what they do. We have seen an awful lot of them over the years and I think we know what they are going to bring to the table.

"It is up to us to try and prepare ourselves to be in a position to match it and hopefully be good enough to beat it," he added.

"I think we will be trying to focus more on that, rather than spending hours and hours looking at Crossmaglen and you still wouldn't get half of what you need to know.

"I think if you over-analyse it you could find yourself losing focus on what has got us here which has been focusing on our own game."

The foundations of this St. Vincent's side are in an Under-21 team from the club who won a county championship title in 2004.

"It is the nucleus of the team and those lads won a championship together and I think it gave them great belief. They are a confident group of lads," the 26-year-old said.

"I think any successful team has to have a team that has come through together like that, and then you add a couple of more people, like there's myself and Kevin (Golden) and whoever else who have been on the team a bit longer.

"I think the nucleus of a team has to be a team like that and definitely that 2004 Under-21s are the team that has brought us over the line in the last year or two."

Quinn also reckons that the mix of players who have come to the club from other counties have slotted in well to help produce this successful period for Vincent's.

"They integrated very well, there has never been an issue. There are a few of the lads that have been here years like Alan Costello who captained the team last year.

"Niall Dunne has been here since the 2001/2002 season and then a couple of lads came in last year like Brian Maloney and Pat Kelly.

"I don't think there is any problem there and you have seen it on the pitch, the lads are no different. Obviously there are a few of them from the country but to us there is no difference."