DERRY champions Newbridge got their Ulster Club Championship campaign underway with a hard-earned victory over newly-crowned Antrim champions Dunloy.

In fairness to Dunloy, they made a game of it and gave Newbridge their fill of it, but, as a whole, the Derry men were probably slightly the better side.

In Ulster, as I keep saying, it’s all about getting that first win out of the way no matter how it comes. Once you have the first one over you, the path starts to clear and things become a little clear in terms of what’s needed in that sort of competition.

Newbridge now have the county final win out of their system, they’re are back on track and back in the routine. They also can call on last year’s experience at this level, which will stand to them in great stead moving forward.

This weekend we have a couple of massive clashes in the Ulster Club campaign. By Sunday night, we might have a clearer picture of who might actually go on to win the competition outright.

First up on Saturday night, hotly-fancied Down champions Kilcoo will take on a youthful Loughmacrory side who are still bouncing from their first-ever Tyrone senior championship win.

I touched on this young Loughmacrory side last week, but I actually think we will get a real taste of what they are about this weekend.

When you win your first championship like that, then I suppose a draw against arguably the favourites for the competition is probably the best draw you could have hoped for. It really refocuses the mind on the challenger ahead.

We have watched enough of Kilcoo down through the years to know exactly what they’re going to bring to the table.

They will play with intensity, they will play with endeavour, they will play with a never-say-die attitude and they’re blessed with talented players all over the pitch.

I’m sure when the Tyrone champions sat down to analyse this game, the stiffness of this challenge became very evident earlier on.

Having said that, the newly-crowned Tyrone champions have serious quality within their team and they have arguably the best two club forwards left in the competition so that for me gives them a hell of a chance here.

I am really looking forward to this game and the fact that it has been shown live should showcase Ulster club football for what it is. I hope that we get the game that we are all expecting.

The second game I want to look at takes place on Sunday with Scotstown locking horns with Donegal champions Naomh Conaill.

Both of these teams are well used to wining county titles at this stage, so Ulster is the next step for both clubs.

Looking at them, the teams are very similar in the fact that they have a lot of experience within their ranks so I expect this to be a very cagey affair.

For me, his is a very interesting tussle because I think whoever comes out of this game will be very hard to stop if they get a bit of momentum in the competition.

Both teams will obviously go after each other’s main threats so it might be a case of which of the lesser-known players can step up to the plate but much like the first game of the weekend, I expect an absolute humdinger in Clones.