Cork City's Seáni Maguire will tell his young teammates to brace themselves for one of the best weeks of their lives after they stunned St Patrick's Athletic to reach the Sports Direct FAI Cup final on Friday night.
Maguire was superb for the Leesiders at Turner's Cross, opening the scoring with a super goal and generally tormenting the Saints as bottom-of-the-table City romped to a 3-0 victory.
The 31-year-old, capped 11 times for the Republic of Ireland, won the trophy with Cork City back in 2016, scoring the winner against Dundalk.
Having endured a miserable league campaign - Ger Nash's men are 11 points adrift at the bottom of the table - the cup has offered Cork City sweet relief, and Maguire is determined to savour the good times.
"I'm just delighted for everyone around here," he told RTÉ Sport. "It's something to shout about after a disappointing season. The Aviva on 9 November, everyone is obviously going to look forward to that now.
"Personally it's been a tough season, just seeing how the league campaign has kind of fizzled out. I've been sort of playing a different role this season, playing up there by myself, but the older I'm getting the more mature I'm playing, that role kind of suits me. Some teams think I can't really run in behind anymore and they kind of let us run in behind.
"I've had a lot of fine moments in my career and I've been telling the boys that all week. I said it in the press during the week if we get the Aviva, that week leading up the final will be one of the best weeks of your life, seeing your family your kids, your friends on the biggest stage in Irish football."
Cork City fans staged a pre-match protest aimed at owner Dermot Usher, but the night ended with joyous scenes in the stands and on the pitch.
Maguire said it was a hard-earned moment of jubilation.
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Cork City 1-0 St Pat's
The hosts take the lead courtesy of a sensational finish from Seani Maguire
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"We have a young team and they're going to relish it," he added. "It's been tough on them. A lot of them are playing their first league campaign in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland so I've tried to show a different side of myself and leadership skills this season.
"I'm more so a player who shows his leadership skills by actions. Thankfully I did that tonight.
"I think everyone has been disappointed in the whole season itself. We probably haven't been good enough throughout the season. You can come up with excuses, injuries at the worng time, but I suppsoe tonight was us in a nutshell.
"We started the game really well, we got on the front foot, I scored a goal early enough.
"Moments like this, it means a lot. I came back to win trophies. We'll watch the game Sunday, Shamrock Rovers against Kerry (in the other semi-final), you never know what's going to happen. But we'll enjoy this moment because there hasn't been many moments this year that we've enjoyed."
