St. Pat’s may have gone the long way about it but they are where they want to be, and that is in a championship final.

And Manager Paul Hasson says that they are ready for action with Newtown the opposition this Sunday in Brewster Park.

“We are ready as we can ever be now,” he said. “You prepare to get to a showpiece at the start of the year, so now it is all brought to fruition for this Sunday, and now it is all about making the final wee tweaks and getting the prep work done.”

St. Pat’s lost to Newtownbutler in their opening game in the competition but Hasson doesn’t feel that will have any bearing on Sunday.

“The two clubs know each other well enough now, and the players know each other inside out, long before I came in, and I’m just trying to put my own stamp on the team and change things up a bit.

“I don’t think any of the games that we have played against them this year will have too big a reflection on the game on Sunday. It is a final, and any final is 50/50 no matter of who you play.

“Irrespective of any game or results that have gone on previously, there will be a different build-up and complexion to the game this week,” he added.

Hasson believes that Newtown have had the advantage of being able to sit back and assess their respective opponents, having sealed their place in the final at the earliest opportunity.

“They have won their two games relatively comfortably so far in the competition, and they have then had the luxury of sitting watching everyone else fight it out for that last final spot.

“They have had an extra week’s preparation under their belts too, so the ball is all in their court at the minute. They are there first, and they are fit to see who is coming through and assess their own take on the game, but we will just try and look after ourselves and will hopefully be bright enough to get us over the line on Sunday,” said the St. Pat’s Manager.

And he states that they are looking forward now to the final.

“This is one of the reasons you play our gaelic games in the first place, so if we can’t be buzzing this week, there would be something seriously wrong!

“Anybody who is playing gaelic always try to aspire to be there or thereabouts at the end of the competitions, and thankfully we have given ourselves a chance to do that.”

Newtownbutler Manager Darren Chapman sees the Junior final as a massive opportunity for the club in its rebuilding process.

“This is what we targeted all year, in terms of starting to move the club forward again. The stream of good, young talent that we have coming through over the next two or three years – we saw this as a starting point, so it is a huge opportunity for the club to start moving forward, and a huge opportunity for the players to be part of moving the club forward.

“The significance of the game can’t be overstated from a Newtownbutler perspective.”

Despite having played St. Pat’s already this year in the Junior quarter, Chapman does not think that game will have any bearing on the final: “What happened in the quarter final will have absolutely no relevance or bearing of what is going to happen on Sunday.

“And that’s another message that we have been drilling into the guys – that we have to take this game on its own merits and to deal with it in that way.

“What happened a couple of weeks ago in Roslea won’t be a factor in our preparations.”

Looking back over the two games his side have played in the championship this year, Chapman has been pleased with different qualities his side has shown in them.

“The two games were very different. Against St. Pat’s, I was very happy with the quality of our play and the intensity and tempo we played the game at, and our fitness levels. It was a good footballing performance.

“The game against Coa – because of the weather conditions, it turned into a bit more of an arm wrestle, and in that game, we got over the line through pure character.

“In the two games we have played so far, I have seen different qualities in the team, and that has been very pleasing.”

Young players such as Diarmuid King, Conor Courtney and Caolan Swift have impressed for Newtown, and while the league saw the side ravaged with injuries, the one positive was being able to bring these players through.

“If there’s an upside to the amount of injuries that we had during the league, it was that we were able to give all our new young guys an awful lot of game time, and that has benefitted them in a huge way, and their performances in the two championship matches have been very good and our older guys are really going well as well.”

Sunday is another game and as he said, another step in the right direction for the club, but Chapman knows it won’t be easy.

“It’s going to be dog-eat-dog. This will be a dog fight. I expect nothing less from St. Pat’s – they were impressive against Coa; they racked up a big score. We need to be ready for that.

“A lot of our focus this week is on us performing again, and usually in championship finals if you can get enough players performing on the day, it’s usually enough.

“We are in a pretty decent place at the minute. Our big focus is making sure Newtownbutler shows up on Sunday.”