O’Brien insists O’Mahony’s are more focused this year

‘When you have a three-point lead there’s always the chance of a goal, but I thought we were the more comfortable team to be honest and I did feel there was another gear in us if they managed to draw level.’

But Mary’s really caught O’Brien’s eye in the second game and they are a side he suspected would challenge eventually.

‘I had a sneaky suspicion they could come good at some stage. They have some nice young players along with the likes of Darren Clarke and Ronan Carroll. They seem to have hit form at the right time. We played them down here in the league not so long ago and it was very tight game, which we actually only won with a late goal.

‘Sometimes it’s a game like they had against the Mairtin’s that gives you the momentum you need and creates a buzz. For ourselves we felt our first game was a must-win because we didn’t know what would happen against the Pat’s. We were delighted to get through the group and when the real championship stuff came against the Gers we got the real momentum going.

‘They have some great forwards and the bit of youth they have creates great enthusiasm, they buzz around the place. We’ll have to sit down and look at it and get our match-ups right and deal with it. But no more than ourselves really. The likes of Ben McLaughlin, Johnny Connolly, Stephen Kilcoyne are all still young and they’re going to be really up for this game.’

It’s largely the same O’Mahony’s team that reached last year’s final and indeed that won intermediate county and Leinster titles, but O’Brien thinks being a year older and wiser will be huge.

‘Peter Nixon is gone and Gary Mulligan stepped aside after years of great service, but the likes of Johnny and Ben have come in and we’ve a couple of minors in too.

‘I don’t think there’ll be any less nerves when it comes around, but I definitely think we’ll be more focused on playing the game than getting the flags up and all the other stuff that goes with it.

‘Last year we possibly got caught up in the whole novelty of the thing, first ever senior final, so hopefully this year we’ll be a bit more focused.

‘The first intermediate final there was a great buzz in the lead up to that because it was the first final in years. It’ll be more business like this week I’d imagine.’