Derry's official line on this weekend's Carlsberg FAI Cup final appearance may be that the achievement is an unexpected bonus at a club still recovering its stride after a crisis that almost knocked it out of senior football. But around Shamrock Rovers no amount of strife, financial or otherwise, could diminish the sense that the silverware on offer at Tolka Park tomorrow is long overdue a public reappearance in the club's famous green and white.
The Dublin club has won the competition 24 times but with a decade and a half having passed since their last success their claim to being the country's FAI Cup specialists has been wearing more than a little thin of late.
Still, as the team has made progress during the past couple of seasons it is in the cup that they have come closest to making a major breakthrough and after two semi-final defeats over the past couple of seasons, tomorrow's game represents a much anticipated opportunity to end the longest run in the club's history without a major piece of silverware.
If several of his players were beginning to develop a knack for losing in the penultimate round of the competition, Liam Buckley himself knows all about losing at this stage of the competition. He reached the final with Rovers in 1984, and St Patrick's Athletic 12 years later, only to end up going home empty handed on each occasion. Just four months after replacing Damien Richardson at the Dublin outfit, though, he at least has the comfort of finding himself leading an almost full-strength squad into what is close to being a home game.
With Greg Costello, Richie Byrne and Jason Colwell all having shaken off injuries to train this week and Luke Dimech's appeal against suspension looking set to be heard next week, Buckley should only be missing Keith Doyle tomorrow afternoon. He will, then, be able to stick with the same group of players that have, in recent weeks, put the collective uncertainty displayed over the early part of the season firmly behind them.
Buckley has a couple of decisions to make ahead of kick-off with Seán Francis still challenging for one of the two attacking slots in the team and Colwell hoping to return after a couple of weeks laid up through injury. In the end, though, it would appear that Colwell's chances of replacing Derek Tracey seem much stronger than Francis's are of displacing either Tony Grant or leading scorer Noel Hunt.
None of those who lose out is likely to be pleased but there are likely to be more unhappy faces around the City dressing-room when Kevin Mahon dishes out the shirts in the build-up to the 3 p.m. kick-off for it's been a week of near miraculous recoveries up at the Brandywell where the club's injury crisis has passed with remarkable speed.
The upshot is that Peter Hutton, Gareth McGlynn, Gary Beckett and Tommy McCallion are in with a chance to start while Seán Friars is likely to undergo a late test on a calf strain that, according to the City manager, is still so sore that it has been difficult even to treat it in recent days.
Hutton's return will almost certainly deprive Joe Harkin of a fairytale appearance in the final after almost two years out injured but there will be anxious waits for several others within the squad, most notably Kevin Deery, McGlynn and Liam Coyle.
The fate of Coyle, whose talent is as unquestioned as his inability to make it through 90 minutes of football at full throttle, may depend on McGlynn for if Mahon opts to play the vastly more experienced David Kelly on the right side of midfield then the local man would look to be guaranteed a start alongside Gary Beckett up front.
At 17, meanwhile, Deery's inexperience may cost him his place in the team with Mahon probably opting to bring in Eddie McCallion and on the left side of midfield Darren McCready may be the one to benefit if Friars fails to prove his fitness in time.
Whatever line-up he settles on Mahon has a sprinkling of players who know what it's like to play in a cup final and much will depend on how the former Shelbourne goalkeeper Alan Gough and his central defence perform against a Rovers attack that, though not the league's most prolific, contains players who are quick and clever in terms of their movement. Former City player James Keddy will also pose a threat, a major factor in Mahon's decision on a right back.
"They're a very good side," says Mahon, who expresses predictable annoyance at having to play the game at Tolka Park, "but sometimes, like ourselves, they can be a little too dedicated to trying to play football. I'm not saying that teams should be hoofing it around the place but sometimes, if you have pace up front, then giving your strikers something to chase up does work and it's not something you see either of these teams doing much."
If the forecast rain falls ahead of the game, for which a small number of tickets will be on sale at the ground, then the threat of either side being over-elaborate is likely to recede dramatically and the quality of the game will almost certainly suffer. If not, then tomorrow's encounter has the potential at least to one of the more memorable finals of recent years.
POSSIBLE TEAMS
DERRY CITY: Gough; E McCallion, McLaughlin, Hutton, Hargan; McGlynn, Doherty, Martyn, Friars; Kelly, Beckett.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: O'Dowd; Costello, Scully, Palmer, Byrne; S Grant, Dimech, Colwell, Keddy, T Grant, Hunt.
