St Vincent’s all set for Leinster decider

St Vincent's captain, Diarmuid Connolly, knows his men will face a team fully focused on ending their Leinster final hoodoo when meet Rhode in Sunday's Leinster Club SFC decider in Portlaoise this Sunday (2.0).

The Offaly champions have lost on each of the four occasions they have contested the provincial final while the Marino men have enjoyed great fortune in Leinster finals in recent times.

"Is winning a factor? Of course, that's why we play," said Connolly. "Yeah, of course. You're drawing on your past experiences in big games and how you work to try and finish it out.

"I know they've won county titles probably more easily than we have in the last couple of years and they're obviously stalwarts of the Leinster campaign so it'll be a big challenge for us," he said.

The clubs clashed as recently as the 2014 Leinster decider when Vincent's came out on top and Diarmuid anticipates another tough battle.

"We got an early goal or two I think in 2014 and they struggled, they were kicking balls in and we were cutting them out. We played a sweeper system which we're not doing now. We got a bit of a lead early and it might have looked comfortable from the stand but it wasn't really. I thought it was a tough game of football."

The Marino side's captain is hoping his side's big-game experience can help steer them to victory.

"We're a very mature team at the moment. We've obviously got some good young guys coming in but most of the guys have been around for the last five or six years and have played in this competition and won Dublin championships and won big games for Vincent's and for Dublin so I think we're in a good place."