Captain Tomás Quinn says his club are greedy for more success. Ian O'Riordanreports

So after 23 years St Vincent's return to the All-Ireland club semi-finals, and while their reputation for tough, uncompromising football remains largely intact, team captain Tomás Quinn appears to break the mould. Sitting in the bar of the expansive Marino clubhouse, Quinn comes on all mild and green, and squeaky clean - a stark contrast to some of the player portraits that surround him.

But Quinn is a St Vincent's man through and through. His father also captained the club, to the Dublin hurling title in 1982, and although he grew up in Portmarnock, Quinn is a product of the St Vincent's nursery, also known as Ardscoil Rís.

"Sure I've been a member of the club since I was too young to be, spent enough time here," he says. "I also went to school in Ardscoil Rís, and I know my mother would say that was for an education, but it was really for the football and hurling."

Aged 26 now, Quinn still looks as if he left school only yesterday. Yet his boyish looks conceal a steely edge, and he's now one of the more experienced members of the St Vincent's team. Naturally they'll need to call on all the experience they have when it comes to Sunday's semi-final against Crossmaglen, the reigning All-Ireland champions.

When they won their first Dublin title in 23 years last November, most club supporters said "about time". It was also in good time, given they'd won the Dublin under-21 title just three years previously, and only now could consider themselves a team closing in on maturity.

"You need a team that comes through like that," says Quinn. "We've a good mix now. The older guys like Pat Gilroy, John Calvert . . . I think it's the best mix we've had for a while, the bit of strength and depth we've needed for the past couple of years."

They're also strengthened by the affectionately-termed "blow-ins" - players like Brian Maloney and Pat Kelly (both from Mayo), Michael O'Shea (Kerry) and Hugh Coghlan (Tipperary): "They all came in last year, and have all integrated fine.

"We're a little lucky in that none of those have intercounty commitments right now.

"We took a long break after winning the Leinster title (on December 16th). Celebrated, basically, over Christmas. We had to switch off, because we had been going full on for so long. And we only really got back training at the end of January.

"But it hasn't been hard to stay focused, not at all. Like they say, if you're struggling to get focused for an All-Ireland final, you're struggling. We've had a great response at training, and the preparations have gone very well.

"And I don't know if it's just being competitive, or being greedy, but at the start of the year we set out to win Dublin, having lost a close final the year before.

"Very quickly after that we decided we wanted to win Leinster. And the minute that was over we realised there was another opportunity there. All this is a bonus, but we're certainly not going into Sunday's game just glad to be there. Because you do get greedy. You do want to win more."

But he realises Crossmaglen have won enough already to want to keep on winning.

It appears the St Vincent's run has greatly renewed Quinn's appetite for the game, even if that means missing all the heavy, pre-season slog with Dublin. He knows he'll be back there long enough, although he wouldn't necessarily place one allegiance ahead of the other.

"It's like, any team you're on at the time is the one you're focused on. If you asked me that question in the height of the summer I'd give you one answer, that it's all about winning an All-Ireland with Dublin. If you're asking me now I'd say it's all about winning an All-Ireland with St Vincent's.

"I've won a couple of Leinster titles with Dublin and that was special. But then winning the Leinster with St Vincent's was special as well, given the club had been out of the spotlight for so long, and hadn't won anything for so long, made it extra special. But I wouldn't say I got more joy from one than the other."

The hope is that further success for St Vincent's will help contribute to further success for Dublin (making that All-Ireland final): "I'd like to think it would be connected. The ultimate aim is to be part of two successful teams this year. It can never do any harm to have a successful club. If we were to bring back that confidence and good form to the Dublin set-up then it could only help. Only time will tell."