STEWARTSTOWN are determined to scratch an 18-year itch by making it to Croke Park.
Back in 2004, they reached the All-Ireland Club IFC final, but were denied their big day out at GAA Headquarters, as the stadium was unavailable.
That decider was played at Portlaoise, and ended in disappointment as a star-studded Finuge team from Kerry surged to victory.
But the Harps are back in another semi-final, and victory over Galway champions Clifden at Hyde Park on Saturday will guarantee an appearance at Croker.
“The key thing is to get to Croke Park, because we didn’t get that opportunity in 2004,” said joint manager Blake Smyth.
“It’s still talked about around the town that we never got that opportunity to play in Croke Park, so it would be great for our supporters, to get them there.
“So that’s the target now, to get over one more game and get that big day out in Croke Park.”
Stewartstown breezed through the Tyrone League and Championship with an unbeaten run, and after a couple of convincing wins in the provincial series, the going began to get tougher.
They needed extra-time to get past Drumlane of Cavan in the Ulster final, and had to dig deep again in a dogged All-Ireland quarter-final away to Glasgow Gaels.
“There were days when we were able to play nice open football and win handy enough, but when we had to dig deep, we were able to do that side of it as well and battle the game out,” said Smyth.
“You don’t really know where you’re at until you come up against it, and you soon find out. But thankfully we stood up to that alright.
“It’s nice to win easy, but it’s also nice to get through a tough game, because then you know you have it in the tank.
“It gives us that bit of experience for the next day, and we’ll need it.”
Smyth and co-manager Peter Armour never doubted that the Scottish Exiles would present a formidable challenge, and prepared their team accordingly.
“People don’t realise how strong those teams are. There have been two teams from over the water that have reached the All-Ireland Junior final since 2009, and there has only been two teams from Tyrone that got there.
“And the British teams that did reach the final were beaten by a point by Kerry teams.
“So we knew that Glasgow weren’t going to be a walkover at all.”
The Harps will carry a winning mentality into this weekend’s tie, having gone through 2022 without losing a single game.
“It was a dream year really, but we just took it competition by competition.
“We didn’t set out at the start of the year to say that we would go the whole year unbeaten.
“It wasn’t until we got to the latter stages that we looked at it and said, you know what, we haven’t lost a game here, so can we push in on now for another two or three games and finish the year out?
“So it want really talked about until towards the end.
“I suppose success breeds success. Even the reserves winning the championship tied into it. I think the more you win, the more you don’t like to lose.
“You get the taste for it and you don’t want to give it up, and that has stood to us.”
