By John Coulter, Belfast Telegraph

06 October 2006

Mayobridge have become so accustomed to playing in Down senior football championship finals in recent years that St Patrick's Park, Newcastle is now something of a home from home for them.

But familiarity will certainly not breed contempt when Mickey Linden's men confront Burren in the Mourne decider there on Sunday (3.30pm).

Mayobridge may be no strangers to success in their own county but they are still ambitious in terms of the AIB Ulster Club Championship.

And Linden knows that victory on Sunday will project his side onto the provincial stage, perhaps with a strong chance of being ultimately crowned Ulster champions.

But that's conjecture - what is solid fact is that James McCartan has infused a new spirit and a fresh level of application within Burren who have been starved of meaningful success of late.

McCartan has quietly remoulded his side and having brought them into Sunday's decider he naturally wants to see them leap the last hurdle.

He fields a side that is not short on talent - Daniel McCartan and Eoin McCartan along with Declan Rooney testify to this - but they appear to lack the all-round experience of a Mayobridge side who can look to the considerable skills of their county aces Brendan Coulter, Michael Walsh, Brendan Grant and Ronan Sexton to carry them through to the Ulster Club series.

Linden has made the transformation from player to manager quite effortlessly and does not plan to employ his two decades-plus of experience in a playing capacity on Sunday.

James McCartan, of course, played alongside Linden on many occasions in the Down attack and knows him inside-out.

So it will be an interesting battle of wits between two of the Mourne county's most famous sporting sons.

McCartan has certainly banished the Burren blues and breathed new life into the club but the wily Linden may have too many answers for him on Sunday.