The Black Cats have their second pre-season match in Portugal tonight, meeting Vitoria de Setubal at the Municipal Stadium, Albufeira.

Having got off the mark with a goal here in Sunday's 3-1 win against Sporting Lisbon, former Cork City striker O'Donovan (pictured right) is eager to progress next season.

He said: "It's always nice to win. Whether it's in training, in pre-season games or the Premier League, the lads want to win.

"There's professional pride and the lads were happy after the Sporting Lisbon game.

"It was nice to get off the mark for me. I feel good, I feel fresh and I'm looking forward to the season ahead.

"My aim is to play more; get in the team and see where it takes me.

"I feel a lot more a part of it now than when I first signed. Coming from where I was coming from, it was a tough step up.

"After Christmas I think I started to find my feet and hopefully I can kick on now and play a part next season."

There was little holding back from Sunderland or Sporting on Sunday and that suited O'Donovan.

He said: "We're enjoying it here. Iit's a nice change of scenery and it's proving good building our base fitness. The Sporting game was a good test, it was good to get back out there, I enjoyed it."It got a bit physical but we handled that challenge and we won the game.

"I suppose it is good when it's physical like that. It tests you for the season ahead, as long as no one gets injured.

"We are looking forward to tonight's game now. I don't know much about Vitoria but I'm sure it will be a good game. They are from the top flight in Portugal so they will be good players."

Sunderland had at least 900 of their own fans at the Sporting game and O'Donovan added: "There's loads of fans here but that doesn't surprise me. Wherever we play, they seem to come in their numbers – all credit to them."