As Glentoran prepare to host an Amateur League team in the Irish Cup this weekend, minds naturally cast back to 2012 when the Premiership giants suffered what remains arguably the competition’s biggest-ever upset at the hands of Newington.

Priced as 20/1 outsiders ahead of travelling to The Oval, almost nobody gave the reigning NAFL Premier Division champions a chance against an Irish League powerhouse who’d won the Irish Cup on 20 occasions.

However, Eamon McCarthy’s side caused a seismic shock on January 14, 2012 with Neil Quinn’s early strike proving the difference – Newington held on to their 1-0 lead for over an hour to seal progression.

Every January, the memory of an unforgettable afternoon pops up on Facebook, reminding Quinn about the highlight moment of his career.

placeholder image — Newington celebrate at the final whistle after beating Glentoran in January 2012. (Photo by Russell Pritchard/Presseye)

Things could have played out very differently that day for Newington hero Quinn, who was originally named on the bench after recovering from a groin problem, but was drafted into the starting team following an injury in the warm-up.

Fourteen years on, Quinn’s winning goal still remains a regular topic of discussion with his young son often calling up the YouTube highlights to watch his father’s finest hour.

"I was over in Barcelona with my wee lad for the Barcelona Cup and the parents were saying 'we didn't know it was you who scored the goal against Glentoran!'" laughed Quinn. “I'm down helping out with his team and a couple of parents stopped me last week who are Linfield fans and they wanted to shake my hand!

"There was a caricature drawn up in the Irish News after the game with myself and then Scott Young slipping on a banana skin, I still have that.

"I have all the cut outs from the newspapers and there's the BBC clips of the match. I still have it all in my scrapbook, the memory lives on.

"I walked into my son’s room the other day and he was watching the highlights from that match...it’s great he’s able to share in it with me.

"It was a swing of my right foot and a tap in, but they all count! It was pure elation. It would probably be one of the highlights of my career.”

As Newington’s players and officials rocked up to The Oval in special suits, there was a sense within their changing room that the upset was on – even if that feeling wasn’t shared by the outside world.

Glentoran sat sixth in the Premiership table and had won just one of their last seven league matches heading into the Irish Cup tie, which would have been viewed as a chance to get back on track, but Newington had other ideas.

As expected, the fall-out from such a devastating defeat was severe in East Belfast with manager Scott Young resigning the following day.

"The pressure was all on them, but we weren't going there thinking 'we're going to get thumped',” added Quinn. “We did think we could win.

"At that time, the Glens were going through a bad spell under Scott Young and we were flying in our league, so we thought we could do a job.

"Most of our squad had played in the Irish League and a few had been across the water.

"A lot of us probably could have still played at a higher level at that time but we had a camaraderie and most of the squad had played together coming through the junior ranks.

"We were happy at the club and playing for the community...to give them a day out like that to support their local team and see a cup upset, it was amazing.”

With vast riches now available to many Premiership clubs and the introduction of full-time football, it’s become increasingly unlikely we’ll ever see an upset like Newington’s again.

Since their victory over the Glens, Queen’s University memorably defeated a star-studded Linfield side and Lurgan Celtic knocked out Portadown in 2016 to reach the semi-finals, but Quinn feels Newington’s result stands above the rest.

"I would go as far to say it's the biggest-ever upset,” he said. “For an Amateur League team, who were training in muck up to your eyeballs and didn't have facilities which they have now...we were trying to find places to train and didn't have our own place to play.

"We were renting out grounds and we were a wee community team, Queen's are a name. As a wee local community team, you would say it's the biggest upset ever.

"The likes of Glentoran, Larne, Linfield and Coleraine now, they're able to throw money everywhere, but back then teams were going to the likes of the best Amateur League or Championship teams and seeing what was about and taking players from there.

"Now, they just get players from across the water. I don't think anything of that level will ever happen again.

"It could happen on Saturday (Drumaness Mills travel to Glentoran), it's cup football. Macclesfield beat Crystal Palace last month, so you never know what can happen.”