Kealan Dillon loving life at the Swifts ahead of fulfilling career goal of competing in Europe

The men from County Tyrone created history by lifting their first ever Irish Cup crown back in May after a penalty shoot-out success against Cliftonville at Windsor Park.

By Dillon's own admission, Dungannon might not boast the biggest attendance across the league, and whilst there were fears that not many people will turn out to celebrate their success, it was anything but as thousands lined the streets for their welcome home party.

Reflecting on their achievement, Dillon said: "I think there's still people celebrating in Dungannon – I don't think some of them will ever stop.

"There was a bit of a running joke when we organised the open-top bus that only five or six people will attend and I think the club might have been worried if there would be a turn out.

"But the amount of people who turned out was unbelievable. They lined the streets, there were people crying and people of all ages.

"You could see standing up on the stage in the town centre how much it meant to everyone around the place.

"The support they give us is unbelievable and there's not anything they wouldn't do for the lads and the club, so to win it for them was special.

"It means the world to me personally that we won the Irish Cup, but you can see it's a different level for the people of Dungannon.

"Obviously Keith (Boyd, chairman) had a tough time before the final with the passing of his father. He spoke to us before the game and to see him after showed they are the type of people you want to work with.”

Dungannon also finished in the top-six since its formation for the first time last season and former Warrenpoint Town ace Dillon says there is a determination within the ranks to not be one-season wonders.

Despite losing the services of John McGovern to Shamrock Rovers, the Swifts have been busy adding to their squad as Tiernan Kelly, Peter Maguire, Sean McAllister, Mal Smith and Darragh McBrien have all joined.

"Look, we will do what we do. I think anyone who watches us regularly will tell you that we very rarely change for anyone we are playing,” he added.

"We don't fear anyone in the league, we proved last year that we can mix it with anyone and we look to be competitive all the time.

"Where that takes us, it will take us. It would be mad to say that we should be challenging for the league and cups.

"We stay in the league first as a club our size has no other choice to be in the Premiership - so that'll be our first target.

"We would love to finish in the top-six again, I don't see any reason why we couldn't if we have another good season, but there's been a lot of change throughout the league.

"It's very hard to tell where other teams are at...so we will just focus on ourselves.”

Dungannon will face Liechtenstein-based FC Vaduz in the second qualifying round of the Conference League, marking their first involvement in European competition since 2007-08.

Before that, they will face reigning champions Linfield this evening in the final of the Charity Shield at Windsor Park.

"We were back to pre-season early but you're happy with that because it's for a good reason,” Dillon smiled.

"Obviously we are preparing for the European game now and we have the bonus of playing in the Charity Shield during pre-season.

"It beats playing a run-of-the-mill friendly where there's 10 souls for both sides and it's not a real competitive game...it's just players getting their legs ready.

"I'd imagine it'll be competitive out here come Friday night, so we're looking forward to it.

"I've never played in Europe and I've been playing football for a long time.

"I always wanted to play in Europe, so it's a big thing for me personally to finally get the chance to do it.

"I can't wait now really and I'm looking forward to it.”

Dillon, who makes the four-hour trip from Westmeath for training and matches, says the Swifts can take inspiration from Dublin-based St Patrick’s Athletic beating FC Vaduz in the same competition last year.

He shared: "Obviously I drive two hours up and down for training, it is a long way, but I drive that because Dungannon has a great group of lads, great staff, the people around the club really look after me and I get a couple of nights off here and there when it suits.

"I love playing for Dungannon and it's reaped the rewards for me in terms of the cup win and playing in Europe.

"We don't watch Vaduz every week and we don't know a massive amount about them.

"The lads are on Google and TransferMarket to look at their squad and their European games last year.

"I know a few lads involved at St Pats who played them last year and beat them.

"Obviously we can speak to people at St Pats who played against them, get information on how they play, and how we can get through the tie.

"We know we will have a tough game and in the build-up to the game we will have information on them.

"Things like Wyscout make it easier getting clips on teams, so we will go into it well-prepared.”