"We have been training for so long and most of our players had been back with their clubs for a few weeks. We had a good hard week of training and we have been working hard towards Saturday," Talty explained.

The secondary school teacher believes that following an intense Leinster championship campaign, his side needed the three-week break to recharge their batteries and refocus the minds ahead of the All-Ireland series.

"I think we needed that break as we had the extra game with Meath as well this year. Then again you just don't know (what can happen) until you go out on Saturday. You can make all of the excuses in the world if it doesn't go right but you are always looking to see what is going to happen."

Derry have certainly been the team of the qualifiers this year with impressive wins over Armagh, Mayo and Laois and Talty expects nothing short of a committed performance from the Oak Leafers this weekend.

"We think we are well prepared and I'm sure Derry are well prepared as well. They have had a lot more games recently than we have had and they are on a roll but we are happy enough with our preparations and we're just looking forward to the game now."

"If anyone had seen the game on Mobhi Road earlier in the year when we played them in a challenge match, they would have seen a lot about Derry. We kicked some huge scores that day and it was a massive challenge and this one is going to be a big test for us."

It's the third year of the Caffrey, Talty and Dave Billings management team for this Dublin side and Talty, a native of Galway, believes that the commitment from the players has been on the increase each season.

"They have worked really hard and they know themselves the mistakes that were made over the years but that doesn't necessarily say that you aren't going to make those mistakes the next day," he added.

"We would hope and I'm sure the team would hope that mistakes won't be made but you can be dead sure that something is going to happen on the day that you aren't prepared for."

Despite Talty's comments this is a Dublin outfit that is extremely well prepared, both physically and mentally, for the first meeting of the sides since 2003 when Jason Sherlock was sprung from the bench to score 1-3 in a resounding win for the Sky Blues at Clones.

With a hat trick of Leinster titles achieved since then Talty believes it os now time to make the next step and focus on bringing Sam Maguire back to the capital for the first time since 1995.

"Hopefully on the day we are ready for it and the players have worked really hard for the last few weeks after the Laois game ,and I'm really looking forward to it because I think it is a new competition.

"We have achieved the goal of winning three Leinster titles in-a-row, which I think has been fantastic, and we'd hope to bring that sort of winning form into the All-Ireland series now."