Paddy Crozier is in the happy situation of having a match squad virtually free of injury, he tells Ian O'Riordan

If there were ever an occasion for which a team would want to be at full strength, a sell-out All-Ireland football quarter-final against Dublin would probably fit the bill, which probably explains why the Derry manager Paddy Crozier sounded quietly confident ahead of Saturday's fixture in Croke Park.

Like most teams, Derry have endured their share of injuries in recent weeks, but for the first time all season Crozier can boast a clean bill of health. He will finalise his team after training this evening, and while few if any changes are expected from the third-round qualifier win over Laois, the all-important back-up is just as strong, and competition for places is now at its fiercest.

"I'd say we're 100 per cent full strength for the first time in a while," said Crozier. "The big concern was (forward) Paul Murphy, who came off in the Laois game with a knee injury. He got the results of a scan . . . and he's got the all-clear.

"Michael McGoldrick (defender) is also back in full training after his hamstring scare against Laois. As is Mark Lynch, who came off with a dead leg against Laois.

"Barry McGoldrick had a dislocated finger for that match, and he's okay again as well. And Joe Diver is back in the fold."

Yet Crozier is not in any way complacent about the challenge in store on Saturday, which is understandable. Dublin, he says, are deservedly being billed as All-Ireland contenders, and while Derry have gathered some useful momentum of their own with qualifier wins over Armagh, Mayo and Laois, their biggest test - by far - comes on Saturday.

"Well I think them winning three provincial titles in a row says a lot about where they're at now. I know an All-Ireland doesn't automatically follow from that, but when they beat Laois in the Leinster final they were saying this is just another step.

"I know we've got some credit now for picking ourselves up after the Monaghan defeat, and we do have the bit of momentum going.

"But Dublin, we all know, have this huge following, which they'll bring again to Croke Park. And I think their players can be influenced by that.

"But we won't be approaching this game any different from how we would approach any other, and that's just to stay focused on our own performance. We know we have to go beyond the Dublin hype.

"We'll be massive underdogs as well. But this is the challenge every team would look forward to, playing Dublin in their own backyard, in front of a capacity crowd of 82,000."

Derry, however, will be no strangers to Croke Park either. Crozier took his team for a refresher on Saturday evening and had the stadium speakers turned up full in an effort to replicate the kind of volume they can expect, but he's not concerned about stage fright.

Crozier himself was with Derry when they won the All-Ireland minor title there in 2002.

Michael McGoldrick, Ger O'Kane, Mark Lynch and Patsy Bradley are among the veterans of that team, and in fact midfielder James Conway is the only member of the current panel yet to play in Croke Park.

"We had a good walk about the park on Saturday," explains Crozier, "and all the facilities and that. A lot of this team played there as recently as the All-Ireland semi-final in 2004, and also against Laois in the All-Ireland qualifiers in 2005. So I don't think that will be a massive factor.

"It's funny though, because we took some really harsh criticisms after the Monaghan game, and I think that day against Armagh we had about 300 supporters in Clones. Now I've heard they've sold over 10,000 tickets for Saturday.

"But . . . there'll still be 65,000 Dublin supporters. We'll put that to the back of our minds, because what happens inside the white lines is all we're concerned about.

"We'll have no excuses, and we've nothing to lose here. We've had some massive momentum going, and long may it last."

Of course, with the winners on Saturday facing either Kerry or Monaghan in the All-Ireland semi-final, there is no guarantee that momentum will last.

"I've been saying since the quarter-final draw that we have the short end of the stick," says Crozier.

"There was never going to be an easy draw, but looking at the other side, I suppose playing Dublin in their own patch was always going to be the most difficult. So we're under no illusions about the challenge, and the huge test we have on Saturday.

"People are saying this is the meeting of the two most physical teams in the country, and Dublin are a very physical side now. I think they publicised what they had to do after the Tyrone game in 2005, and they've gone away and done that. And there's nothing left for them now only an All-Ireland final."