As the Extra.ie FAI Cup reaches the latter stages, Derry City are the overall favourites to clinch the trophy as the only club from the upper reaches of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division still in the competition.
The Candystripes have been on a roll of late. Ruadhri Higgins' outfit are second in the league and on a run of eight successive wins in all competitions, and standing between them and a place in the 13 November decider will be First Division Treaty United.
Given that Derry will also have home advantage against their Limerick opponents, the favourites tag will shine brighter for a club very much on the rise.
That semi-final as well as the other last-four clash between Waterford and Shelbourne will both be live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Sunday.
And speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, former LOI and cup winner Graham Gartland and ex-UCD, Sheffield Wednesday and Shamrock Rovers midfielder Paul Corry both tipped Derry - provided they avoid an upset and go all the way - to use the cup as a springboard to greater things.
"They seem to be in the ascendancy at the minute and once you gather silverware when you are a team on the up, it gives you that hunger for more," said Gartland.
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"Even when you listen to Shamrock Rovers players talking about now or even going back to teams who were successful years ago, it was always 'that first trophy won gave us a taste for it'.
"So it was the FAI Cup in 2019 that gave (Shamrock Rovers) a taste for it, Cork winning an FAI Cup and then kicking on and winning the league, and when players get a taste of success, it gives them a blueprint of how they need to prepare for that."
The importance of trying to attain silverware at this juncture in Derry's journey was something the injured Ciaron Harkin didn't shy away from when he spoke to RTÉ Sport at a recent EA Sports event, saying: "Getting silverware any year is the main thing and from the now on, the squad that Ruaidhri's brought in, it's going to be demanded every year hopefully".
Corry feels Derry have clicked in the final third in recent months after a mid-season blip and helped by the return to fitness of Michael Duffy.
"They're certainly a team with a huge amount of momentum behind them," he said.
"When it comes to this season, they're going to push Shamrock Rovers as far as they can but if they can add the FAI Cup to this season, it would certainly be like a step in the right direction and you would imagine then if they were to add maybe two or three (players) to that squad come next year, they're going to be closer again.
"The squad are growing, Ruaidhri seems to be growing in his own experience and he seems to have found the right combination within that team and his recruitment seems to be really good, so it bodes well for Derry at this moment in time.
"I'm sure Shamrock Rovers are looking over their shoulders and thinking, 'They're coming'. It has that feel like when Dundalk were on top and Stephen Bradley was building. It kind of has that feel that there is a lot of momentum behind that side so this weekend is going to be huge.
"I would expect them to go past Treaty but if they can continue their league form between now and the end of the year, if Shamrock Rovers do drop points, they're showing over the last number of weeks certainly that they're going to be there to take advantage of that."
Corry said that the second semi-final between a Waterford side building steady momentum ahead of the First Division promotion play-offs, and a Shelbourne team whose recent league results bely quite solid performances that perhaps deserved more, is much harder to call.
"I actually tend to lean in Waterford's side, just the momentum they have behind them and the teams they've knocked out on route," he said.
"There'll be a huge sense of belief amongst the team. But it's one where you flip a coin and take a guess at which way it's going to go."
Gartland felt that based on how they put it up to Shamrock Rovers in Sunday's 3-2 loss at Tallaght Stadium, Shelbourne have enough strength in attacking areas through the likes of Sean Boyd and Shane Farrell to edge into a first cup final since 2011.
"I'd probably lean towards Shelbourne. Phoenix Patterson would be the one outstanding player for Waterford at the moment who's in such a rich vein of form," he said.
"But I just think Shels might have enough for them in their front areas. Boyd has nine goals this season and Farrell's gone up to six goals this season and (Matty) Smyth has come in and really added to their attacking prowess."
Watch the FAI Cup semi-finals, Derry City v Treaty United and Waterford FC v Shelbourne, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 1.45 pm on Sunday, listen to live updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 with live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app
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