Dunloy play part in 'year of the underdog' - Smith

Deaglan Smith predicts an entertaining game against Newbridge on Saturday

In a club championship season of historic breakthroughs, Dunloy's vice-captain Deaglan Smith acknowledged "it must be the year of the underdog".

The Antrim champions travel to Owenbeg on Saturday (18:00 GMT) to face Derry kingpins Newbridge in the preliminary round of the Ulster Club Senior Football Championship.

Both teams went into their respective county finals as outsiders, with Dunloy turning the tables on the 2023 final defeat to Cargin to bridge an 89-year gap, while Newbridge - despite being defending champions - beat a fancied Magherafelt side seven days later.

The winner will face Madden, who won the club's first Armagh senior and with Tyrone's Loughmacrory another first-time winner, there has been something in the water in 2025.

Smith, who played through the pain barrier in the Antrim final, said their victory over Cargin "was hard to believe at the time" but fuelled by their loss at the same stage two years earlier, plus the previous week's hurling semi-final defeat to Loughgiel, they were determined not to come up empty-handed.

"It's good to see a change and I'm sure there are a lot of people sick of seeing the same teams come up against each other with the same outcomes," he told BBC Sport NI's Mark Sidebottom.

"We had a week to take it all in, but it was hard to believe at the time. We knew we could do it, so it was just good to get over the line.

"There's a lot of heart in the group. We took that defeat (2023 final) bad and took the hurling defeat 10-times worse, so we used that as fuel for the fire."

Dunloy have been lauded for their attacking style and although the tests are tougher on the provincial stage, Smith says "there's no point changing now".

"They've a lot of danger men who will need a close eye on but I'm sure they'll be saying the same about a couple of our boys," he continued.

"They're an attacking team, we're an attacking team, so it is going to be a good game."

'Back-to-back amazing for Newbridge' - McKeever

Declan McKeever and Conor McAteer celebrate after Newbridge retained the Derry title

Although Newbridge won their first Derry senior title in 35 years in 2024, retaining the John McLaughlin Cup was an "amazing experience for our club and community", according to Declan McKeever, a veteran of their 2007 Intermediate success when Dunloy had their measure in Ulster.

Last year, they fell at the first hurdle in Ulster against Armagh's Clann Eireann, so the south Derry side will have ambitions of pushing on this time to "inspire the young kids" from the community.

Newbridge may go into Saturday's game as favourites, but McKeever has first-hand experience of what Dunloy footballers can do and is anticipating a tough test.

"They are an incredible team, so we don't take them for granted," he said.

"When we played Dunloy back in '07, we didn't know much about them, but they beat us well that day.

"You look at the dual players they have now, they've been there in big games and have experience of the big occasion more than us."

Newbridge are one of four teams returning to the provincial stage this year, but the emergence of new county champions has been the story of the season.

McKeever admitted "going back-to-back is something I never thought we would do, never mind becoming champions for the first time" but their recent success and that of their rivals proves it can be done.

"It's good to see new teams coming through as we were used to seeing the Slaughtneils and Ballinderrys (winning in Derry).

"We were always playing C football, B football, whereas the likes of Magherafelt were winning Feiles (U14) all the time and we never were.

"The likes of Loughmacrory had teams coming up and winning (underage) so it's inspiring for teams that aren't doing well now to see their time could come if they put in the effort and hard work."