Mickey Whelan didn't believe a word that was coming from his own mouth. The St Vincent's manager was heading into an All Ireland semi-final against Crossmaglen at the start of this year and publically proclaimed his side's best chance was to stay close and kick hard down the home straight. But nobody beats Crossmaglen down the stretch.

Instead the Dublin club scored two goals inside 15 minutes, went into half-time with a 10-point lead and clung on for dear life. That Vincent's have long since given up their crown and Cross are back for more is proof you just can't match the Rangers when it comes to sheer doggedness, be it in the closing minutes of a close game or over a generation of club football.

A win today and the statistics will read 13 county titles on the trot, seven Ulster titles in that time and few would bet against a fifth All Ireland come St Patrick's Day. And all this without losing a single final. Look at it this way, the only other side that come close to those standards are Nemo. They are currently on their best ever winning run in Cork but would need to keep claiming titles there until 2017 to match the annual Armagh champions; it took them nine years to achieve provincially what Cross could today rack up in 11 but crucially in a much easier and often uncompetitive province; and while they have three more All Irelands, those 20 years cover generations, Cross's four wins in 10 years have been with much the same team. The difference between the two? Nobody quite knows how to beat Crossmaglen Rangers, even after all these years. And everyone knows why they lose against them.

"I suppose some teams psychologically are at a disadvantage, you think more about the opposition than you should," says Peter Canavan, whose Errigal Ciarán were one of the few sides to get the better of Cross in both 1997 and after a three-game epic in 2002. "A lot of teams that would appear to be in a strong position doubt themselves. And it's inevitable, that comes with winning teams and few have won as much as them.

"There is their strength in depth. Physically they are strong and suited to football when the ground is that bit heavier. And more than anything they are experts at getting close wins. The two things that stood out from our close encounters is their defence is so disciplined, they never give away easy frees, and at the other end you realise if anyone fouls within 50 yards, you know McConville or Aaron Kernan is going to kick it over the bar. That makes it difficult."

Only thre times in those 13 county title wins have they ever kicked more than 13 points. Only seven times have they scored a goal. In fact for a side so dominant in their own backyard, they have amazingly averaged less than a goal and just 11 points across all those wins. But the key, as is always the case with Cross, is they don't concede goals. In fact they only give away a goal every three county finals. That has helped their average winning margin in those 13 county finals be more than six, but crucially it's got them through so many tight encounters in Ulster and beyond.

These past five years in Ulster, their average winning margin has been exactly three points; in 10 of their 14 provincial outings they have held their opponents goalless, winning 13 of those. And in all but one of those games, had their opponents scored a goal, Crossmaglen would have failed to emerge victorious. That trend goes onto the All Ireland series too, with only Dr Crokes managing to raise a green flag against them in their four All Ireland final victories. So how to score a goal against them?

"With great difficulty" laughs Ronan Gallagher who came out the wrong side of their 2007 Ulster final, playing for St Gall's. "It doesn't always work but to have a chance you have to play quick ball and run at them. They don't like that. If you slow up anything, it's what they want. They are so big and strong they can afford to hold the ball and they never pass it under pressure. But for that same reason, you can't keep the ball for long. It has to keep moving and it has to be fast if you are to stand a chance. It limits their chances of getting boys back which they always seem to do. You find Oisín, Johnny Murtagh, all these guys all back and these guys tackle as hard and fair as a good defender. Teams talk about hard work but they never talk about it, it's just what they do naturally.

"That's just the first part though. They are actually very pacey which we didn't realise. When you think of Cross you think of the McEntees, Donaldson, Francie and Oisín. But there is so much pace around that. And after all that you have to take your chances because Oisín always scores, John McEntee will get key scores and Aaron Kernan won't miss a free. If you were to ever beat them, get ahead of them early and hold on."

And that's what Mickey Whelan really believed and it's why his Vincent's became one of only seven teams to beat Crossmaglen during all that time.