Declan Devine recalls special memories from Glentoran's Irish Cup success in 1996 as interim boss chases special achievement

Dubbed ‘The Glen Little Final’ after the Englishman scored in the 85th minute to secure a 1-0 victory over Glenavon, that success would turn out to be Devine’s final major contribution with the East Belfast club as he moved onto Derry City at the conclusion of the campaign.

However, he’s now back at The Oval, this time as interim boss after taking charge following Warren Feeney’s exit, and will hope to mastermind another triumph in what is undoubtedly Glentoran’s biggest game of the season.

While Devine is proud of the winners medal that is still stored safely at home, it’s memories of his teammates that come flooding back when asked to reflect on the occasion.

"It's more than winning the Irish Cup...my memories are about my teammates and the togetherness of that group,” he said. "You never felt beaten – even when you were behind you felt like you could come from behind and even with those dirty 0-0 games you felt like we had the quality on the pitch that could win you a game with a bit of magic, as Glen Little did on that day.

"You also had boys that you’d go to war with, that you could rely on, would put their bodies on the line for each other, could grind out results at difficult venues at difficult moments and that’s more what you remember.

"I still have the medal at home and I’m very proud of it, but the best thing about that day was a team that put in hard work throughout the year getting their rewards because we’d good players, good people and we worked really hard.”

This crop of Glentoran players now have an opportunity to create those special times for themselves and head into tonight’s semi-final clash on the back of a comfortable 4-0 Premiership victory over Ballymena United.

"I don’t do honeymoon periods...I’m here to work and the reality is that it’s the semi-final of the Irish Cup, but every game when you represent Glentoran is massive – every game,” added Devine. "We’ll not get too far ahead of ourselves.

"This group has a lot of potential, there’s no doubt about it. We’ll take it one game at a time.”