Ian O'Riordan finds the Dublin finalists playing down the prospect of two games in 24 hours

As far as both St Vincent's and UCD are concerned, Saturday's Dublin club football final at Parnell Park is the only game they have to play this weekend.

Neither club is giving one moment's thought to the fact that the winners are out again 24 hours later for the Leinster quarter-final against Wicklow champions Rathnew.

"As far as I'm concerned, we have one match at the weekend," says St Vincent's manager Gay O'Driscoll. "I'm not going to get into the rights or wrongs about the Leinster game being played a day later, though maybe I will after the game."

His UCD counterpart Dave Billings shares the same line of thought: "Being absolutely honest, our focus is totally on the Dublin final, and any talk of possibly having to play again the next day is peripheral to that.

"We're approaching this game in exactly the same way as we would any other big final, and we're prepared to play to win no matter how hard it may be.

"I mean, we wouldn't even dream of looking beyond the Dublin final. And we would never think of easing up in any way for this match just because of the chance we could be out again the next day."

With so much at stake for both clubs, it's hardly surprising that the managers are staying clear of any talk beyond Saturday's final.

St Vincent's last took the Dublin title in 1984, and for a club that won six titles in the 1970s the return to the top of the county is a large enough target.

"Of course, winning this would mean everything to the club," admits O'Driscoll, who was part of memorable successes in the 1970s with both the club and the Dublin seniors.

"I have to admit I was hugely surprised to be reminded that it's been 18 years since Vincent's have won the title, so just getting this far has been an achievement in itself.

"This is a young St Vincent's team, but I do think they are good enough to win it. UCD will probably start as favourites because of the way they came through, and the quality of players they have as well. But they're not unbeatable."

O'Driscoll would make no predictions on the difficulties St Vincent's might have if successful on Saturday. "That's something that will only manifest itself on the Sunday. There have already been a lot of disruptions in the Dublin championship so far, but I think we have stayed clear of that and kept our focus."

Now in his third year in charge of the Marino side, O'Driscoll is confident that a new era is beginning at St Vincent's. "I always felt it would take three years to put together a strong senior side. And these are all our home-grown players, who have put in a huge effort over the last number of years. And for them to win the Dublin title would give huge encouragement to the younger players coming up behind them."

The last time UCD took the title was even further back - they completed a two-in-a row success in 1974, at a time when the UCD-St Vincent's rivalry was at a peak. Billings has worked hard in rebuilding UCD into a competitive club side and he's not about to blow their chances of winning in Dublin by holding back.

"We just don't know how difficult it will be to rise again on Sunday if we're successful. But the match on Saturday is the only thing that matters to us now."

The UCD side is built around intercounty players who still haven't had a decent break after last summer's championship. Tiredness is bound to hit them sooner or later, although Billings hasn't seen any signs of it yet.

"I think as long as a team keeps on winning you find that tiredness is not a factor. It's only when a team is not winning that the tiredness starts to hit them. The players themselves are only thinking about winning the Dublin championships and that's what helps keep them going."

The last time the clubs met in a final was 1976, when St Vincent's emerged comfortable winners. These days UCD are even more typical of a university side in that the starting 15 contains no native Dubliners. "This," laughs O'Driscoll, "will definitely be the first Dublin final involving St Vincent's that I can remember when the majority of supporters will actually be cheering for us to win, rather than for us to get beaten off the field."