These are heady days for Watty Graham's Glen club.
In 2019 they reached their first Derry senior county final, squeezed out by Magherafelt by the bare minimum on the day.
Many viewed it, not unreasonably, as a huge year for the club, but that perhaps silverware would take more time.
Many off the conveyor belt of minor winners – the club won four county titles on the trot starting in 2011 – were coming into a team that lost its senior status for a number of years. Being competitive at the business end of the Derry championship was progress in itself.
The following season, the Slaughtneil juggernaut ended their interest at the quarter-final stage.
As 2020 started to draw to a close, two significant things happened that would transform the club.
Conor Glass' arrival home from Australia was a boost for Derry, yet a game changer for Glen. Around the same time, Malachy O’Rourke took over the reins; they haven’t looked back since.
A first-ever senior title duly arrived the next season. In December they made it back-to-back and a first trip to Croke Park saw the Glen edge out Maigh Cuilinn for a place in the biggest day on the club calendar.
While they will be underdogs facing a Kilmacud Crokes side hoping to right their wrong of 12 months ago, captain Connor Carville and his charges have serious ambitions of bringing the Andy Merrigan up the M2.
For Carville, the 'game by game’ approach is hard to shake. It’s a well-worn cliché at this stage, but it also provides clarity for each and every challenge.
It was only after All-Ireland champions Kilcoo were dethroned in the Ulster decider that it hit home just what it means to the local community.
A visit to Gerry McEldowney, a long-time chairman of the club, with county and provincial silverware left a serious impression.
"When he came to the door I handed him the cups and the tears started falling from him," he told RTÉ Sport.
"He held the trophy and said he never thought he would see Glen win anything, never mind winning Derry and Ulster championships.
"You sort of realise then then that it’s bigger than we realised. It was nice to see how much it meant to people."
Failing for so long to make an impression, external criticism fuelled internal doubts. Outsiders felt there was a failing of character within the the team; when the pressure came on most, they were often found wanting.
Carville has no qualms with such observations.
"In fairness, the evidence was there. Glen had never won a county title so the criticism probably wasn't unfair.
"People around our club decided that things had to change and probably put the underage structures in place 20 years ago. Success breeds success and it probably started out with winning an U14 Feile in 2008.
"It sort of snowballed from there. That team won an U16 championship and then the following year the team above won a first minor championship and then we slowly started to win and realised we could win and learned how to win.
"Thankfully, we've been able to bring that through now to senior level."
With membership of approximately 800 between adults and children, and four adult male teams (senior, senior reserve, a development team of mainly players out of minor and a recreational over-35) they pale into insignificance in comparison to the sheer size of Sunday’s opponents Kilmacud, who are far more used to county silverware and the Croke Park experience.
The Glen supporters will travel in numbers willing their side to glory, yet for the players, it is perhaps the journey that has provided the most satisfaction.
"We all grew up together, lived very close by," Carville says. "We're all mad about football. A lot of the team would be best friends. You'd see lads being best men at boys' weddings and that kind of thing, we're a really tight bunch.
It's great to be on this journey with your best friends
"Even though there are different age-profiles, it's great to see lads like Spike Warnock, who's 30 now, and Cathal Mulholland, who's 22 - you see them boys going out for breakfast and for coffee together the whole time.
"So they're even bridging gaps over the age profiles. It's great to be on this journey with your best friends."
