Two evenly matched teams will compete in Sunday's FAI Cup final, however, Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic will bring two different styles to the Aviva Stadium for the end-of-season showpiece.
Bohemians, built to attack, and spearheaded by top scorer Jonathan Afolabi who is gunning for his 20th goal of the season on Sunday, while the Saints from Inchicore base their foundations in defence, which has served them well this season, proving the last team to stay in the hunt to dethrone league champions Shamrock Rovers.
Ultimately, St Pat’s ran out of steam as they succumbed on home soil as Stephen Bradley’s men came and conquered by the Camac to secure their fourth title in a row, but for the Saints, they easily achieved their objective by securing European football thanks to an excellent league campaign.
And now, with a European adventure awaiting next season, Jon Daly’s side have the freedom to play without pressure as they seek another FAI Cup victory as they take on fellow Dubliners, Bohemians, at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.
And manager Daly believes that his side have a great chance of bringing the trophy back across town to Dublin 8 if they can remain defensively solid and keep Bohs’ attack-minded unit quiet.
"We’re two evenly matched teams," said Daly, speaking to RTÉ Sport ahead of the cup final. "They are very good offensively going forward, and when they win the ball back, they are very, very quick in transition.
"We have been defensively solid up to the last couple of weeks where we changed things around a bit, so if we can manage their attacking threat, I think we give ourselves the best opportunity to win the game."
Daly is all too aware of the goalscoring prowess of the talented Afolabi, but is thankful that one of his key defenders, Joe Redmond, knows him even better having played schoolboy football together.
And it looks set to be an intriguing battle when the old friends become foes for Sunday’s encounter, with Bohs needing a victory to secure European football for 2024.
"He is a handful," said Daly, when asked about Afolabi’s threat. "He’s a very good player and he will be up for player of the season. He’s a very good striker.
"Joe Redmond played with him growing up at St Joesph’s so he will know him very well and knows the threat that he poses.
"And James Clark playing off him has been very good this year. They have a really good understanding, so it is about trying to manage them two, and I think the front four in particular are their main threat, so if we can manage that we give ourselves the best opportunity to win the game."
Daly was also quick to emphasise the ability of Redmond, who he feels brings real stability to the side and brings confidence to the team when he is anchoring the team.
"He is a very good defender and when the ball is in the box, you have confidence that he will go and stick his head on it and clear the danger. He has done very well for us and his presence at the back has been great.
"We had a sticky spell at the start when he was injured and he came back and stepped in there as if he has never been away, so he gives the team that extra assurance that he is there behind you."
Saints had to do it the hard way to get to this year’s final, drawn away from home in every round, seeing off Longford, Derry City, Finn Harps and Cork City en-route to the Aviva, and Redmond believes that the travelling fans will have well-earned their success should it arrive on Sunday.
"Away from home in the final as well, which is great," pondered Daly. "It’s always difficult to play away from home and have to travel. The fans have backed us massive numbers in every round and it’s a huge chance to go and repay them for the support they have given us all season."
And if Daly is looking for a matchwinner, he certainly has a ready-made candidate in Chris Forrester who can light up any occasion and has some history with the FAI Cup final, scoring a spectacular effort in the 2021 edition, which happened to be a repeat of this year’s showpiece.
"He has shown it in the two years I’ve been here that he can produce something out of nothing, that little bnit of magic, and that x factor that you want to see in players," said Daly.
"If you are paying into the game, you would want to watch someone like him. He can do things that others can’t do and hopefully we see something similar on Sunday."
Watch the FAI Cup final, Bohemians v St Patrick's Athletic, on Sunday from 2pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live radio commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
