When Watty Graham's Glen were pushing the eventual All-Ireland club champions Kilcoo to the limit in last year's Ulster semi-final, it was pretty clear that the band of Derry men weren't going to be one-hit wonders.
They have dealt admirably with the notoriously difficult second album, following up their first ever senior county title in 2021 with another triumph this year.
And after navigating their way through the rounds in the AIB Ulster Club championship, they will get a second bite at the cherry against Kilcoo, this time in a provincial final on Sunday.
Emmet Bradley has been at the core of the club's irrepresible rise within Derry and winning back-to-back county titles has only stiffened their steely determination to push on further.
"To back it up was huge for us because Malachy (O'Rourke) had set out at the beginning of the year that it was something like a 100 years since a first-time winner had backed it up," the midfielder said.
"So that was a huge incentive for us and a huge goal for us at the beginning of the year. It was probably a lot more difficult moving through the campaign this year. Last year things fell into place and we got momentum and it was really difficult to stop for ourselves and for other teams and things just panned out really nicely.
"This year we faced a lot more challenges and we're really proud to have overcome them. I would imagine there were plenty of people who doubted us to see if we could get a back-to-back but we're delighted that we've got to this stage.
"We're only one step further than where we were last year and we know no Ulster championship match is easily won, never mind coming in against All-Ireland champions. So we know we need to be at our best to give ourselves a crack."
If Glen were to stun Kilcoo, it would see the Seamus McFerran Cup returning to Derry for the first time since Slaughtneil won the third of their three Ulster titles in four years in 2017, having themselves followed on from Ballinderry's 2013 triumph.
What's different from that golden period for the county's clubs at provincial level, is the crest of a wave that the inter-county set-up has been on of late.
2022 was a boom year for Derry's senior inter-county side, reclaiming the Ulster title after a 24-year wait and getting to an All-Ireland semi-final.
A duet of club and inter-county being in harmony as they hit the high notes in tandem is something Bradley feels could well be of relevance.
"The two things are connected with a couple of the lads being involved with Derry - Conor (Glass), Ethan (Doherty) and a few lads who have been involved in the last few years, and myself and Conlann (Bradley)," he said.
"Obviously Glen has benefited from the work that's been done at county level but there's a huge amount of work going on at club level as well.
"We're very blessed to be part of the club that we are involved with and we're really proud of it. But there's a huge amount of people in the background doing an awful lot of work and really supporting us and trying to push us in the right direction and it's our job as players to hold up our end of the bargain and compete as well as we can on the field."
The expectation would be that rising tides would lift all boats in Derry again should Glen make the provincial breakthrough to follow on from the past successes of Slaughtneil and others.
"I suppose we were unfortunate enough to spend quite a few years in the shadow of Slaughtneil whenever they were doing really well at provincial level," said Bradley.
"They won three Ulster crowns so that probably drove us on a wee bit to set our standards a bit higher to try and catch them and that's brought us into the position we're in today.
"I've no doubt there will be teams within Derry that came close to us this year that feel they have every right to be competing at this level and I'm sure that will raise the standards within the county which can only be a good thing for the game in Derry, not only at club level but feeding into the county set-up."
The challenge against Kilcoo will be difficult of course. The reigning All-Ireland champions need little introduction after capping an era of provincial and county success with the pinnacle back in February.
Kilcoo's route to their All-Ireland final victory over Kilmacud Crokes could have been curtailed earlier if Glen had been able to get the better of them in extra-time during last year's Ulster semi-final.
Glen fell short but they, needless to say, will be taking lessons from it as they prepare for a rematch with the Down champions at the same Athletics Ground venue.
"I've watched bits and pieces of it," Bradley said of that narrow 1-11 to 0-11 defeat.
"I haven't watched the whole thing through but we've watched large parts of it, trying to learn a thing or two from it.
"We worked hard to try and claw the game back and they were probably in control for large parts. But the small thing to take out of that game, we were pleased enough with how we finished.
"We finished strong enough but ultimately it wasn't enough to get over the line against Kilcoo and we'll be really looking to learn a few lessons from that game. But I know how formidable an outfit Kilcoo are, being in the last two All-Ireland finals and numerous Down championships.
"Twelve months is a long time in football and a lot can change in terms of personnel and how the team's performing. So we can look back and learn a thing or two but we know this game will be different in its own right."
