St. Pat’s manager Paul Hasson says that his players are relishing the opportunity to play Ulster Club football with the Donagh men taking on Derry champions Desertmartin in the Ulster Junior Club Championship at Brewster Park this Sunday.

For the bulk of this St. Pat’s squad this will be new territory with few remaining from the meeting with Crossmaglen in the senior club competition back in 2008.

“We are just trying to keep the thing ticking along and keep the thing fresh. It is a new situation for the majority of them - I think it is 13 years since St. Pat’s has ventured into Ulster before after 2008 and it hasn’t been lost that we haven’t been there since so it is a big occasion for a lot of them to get the chance to sample Ulster football.

“There is a great buzz about the place and people coming out to watch training and that. It has brought a real buzz around the whole club and everybody seems to be looking forward to Sunday and hopefully we can get that elusive first win in the Ulster Championship,” said Hasson.

As a Derry man himself, Hasson knows Desertmartin well and says they are a strong side but he explains that St. Pat’s main focus will be on their own game.

“They are a very well structured and well organised team and they want to control games so they will definitely hold on to possession a lot throughout the game much in the style of the likes of a Derrygonnelly.

“They utilise their forwards well, they have a couple of young Derry minors and they usually try and work those boys to get into scoring positions and they are usually pretty efficient.

“Knowing what you are up against is one thing but we just have to try and worry about ourselves and try and imprint our own game and our own style on to them to make sure we make them think more about us than we are thinking about them,” he said.

And Desertmartin are definitely going to have to be aware of the threat that St. Pat’s pose, especially the Donagh side’s ability to raise green flags which could be key at this time of the year.

“It is going to be winter football and as you’ve seen in the championship games even throughout this last weekend there has been some very cagey games and a goal can change matches.

“Thankfully, we have bought into this from day one - we go out and try to attack teams and we have that string in our bow that it is not maybe one or two people who can get us a goal, there is four, five or six men in that team who can score goals and it just depends on their situation who is best coming off the shoulder to get a shot on target.”

Hasson also believes that the pressure is all on their opponents and he hopes that playing at Brewster Park will work to his side’s advantage on Sunday.

“Desertmartin is an in form team and nobody outside of ourselves would give us too much chance on Sunday but the pressure is on Desertmartin thankfully and these boys are going out relishing the opportunity to play Ulster Club football and represent the club and county and what better place to do it than Brewster Park where we have put in some great performances this year.

“We will go out and play with a freedom and see where that takes takes us and hopefully it will be enough to take us through at the end of the day,” he said.