Chris Stewart saluted his players for dragging Finaghy to the brink of silverware – but he knows the most nerve-shredding part of the season still lies ahead.
The high-flying Wedderburn Park outfit have lost just once all season – a Junior Shield defeat at Bangor Young Men two weeks ago – and so remain heavily involved in the hunt for 2A and both the Cochrane Corry and Junior cups.
To date, it’s been the best campaign yet since the former Derriaghy midfielder moved across town some seven years ago, and just reward, he says, for all the hard work and dedication of everyone associated with the club.
But of course no medals are handed out in January, Finaghy are still a handful of games away from tasting success in the any of the knockout competitions, and at least half-a-dozen away from finding out their fate in the league.
So for Stewart – whose side progressed to the semi-final of the Cochrane Corry with a 3-1 win over Shamrock at the weekend – this is a strong start, a very strong start, but that’s all it is.
“The season has gone well, we have a brilliant group there,” said the Finaghy chief, who manages the club with John Lamb.
“At Bangor Young Men there a few weeks ago, that was our first defeat, and I think that was our 19th or 20th game of the season.
“We’d drew with Portavogie away, and we drew with Willowbank, so it’s been a good run.
“But we’ve been knocking on the door for a few years now, and we’ve reached five or six quarter-finals but we never seem to be able to get over the line, so yesterday’s win was a big step towards a bit of silverware.
“But the club is in a really good place behind the scenes with John in beside me, he’s been brilliant, and Jamie (McKeag), Clarky (Stephen Clarke) and Collie (Jamison) too.
“So you’re only as good as the people around you, and right throughout the club, everyone is working hard and working together and the hard work is starting to pay off.
“As I say to the players every week, hard work has to come first, that’s the minimum requirement, and everyone has bought into it and it’s pushing us in the right direction.
“But you can’t get ahead of yourself either, football can turn around very quickly, but these are the games you want to be involved in.”
After Shamrock last week, next up for Finaghy is another title rival at home in the last 16 of the Junior Cup this Saturday.
“It’s Willowbank next week and as I said to the boys, this is the stage of the season you love, you try and build from early on to get to these occasions,” said Stewart.
“Ok, we’ve still eight games to go in the league but we’re in the mix, last 16 of the Junior Cup and a semi-final (in the Cochrane Corry) to look forward to as well, that makes all the hard work from pre-season on worth it.”
Stewart (right) admits his team had to dig deep to beat Shamrock at the Bone on Saturday, but reckons the game has no bearing on the battle for 2A.
“We knew it was going to be tight, we went up there a couple of years ago, it’s hard to play on that wee pitch, and they gave us a bit of a lesson up there, they beat us six or seven,” he added.
“It was nip and tuck for a while, but I always felt we were strong, and the longer the game goes on, I fancy our boys, they are relentless and their work-rate is great, and we saw it through.
“But they are a good side and we’ve still to play them back at our place and at theirs. When it comes to the league, it will be tight again, fine margins, okay we came out on top yesterday, but it doesn’t give you a given in the next game, you’ll have to go up and work as hard as ever to get something from it.”
