Portadown's Niall Currie 'looking guys in the eye' over final moments before Glenavon derby semi-final

Having claimed the senior scalps of Crusaders and Loughgall to secure this semi-final stage, Currie is determined to draw on every possible moment before rubber-stamping a starting side tasked with reaching the high-profile final despite a current lower Championship ranking compared to the remaining Premiership-based last-four rivals.

"It will be about making late calls on players,” said Currie. "It’s going to be a case probably of finalising the team 15 or 20 minutes before we have to name our side.

"The guys that got us to this stage and into the semi-finals are now coming back from injury and it’s just about how long can we get out of some.

"Our January signings came in and have made an impact but all bar Zach Barr are cup-tied.

"But the memories and experience stored away by those players already at the club from wins across the previous rounds also can go a long way for a big semi-final.

"So I’ll be watching players over the warm-up then having conversations with certain individuals and looking guys in the eye.

"It’s not about anything beyond the semi-final, we will be rolling the dice for Mourneview Park and weighing everything up at the ground.

"But there’s no reason these players who have won against Crusaders and Loughgall cannot go to Glenavon and put in a good account.

"We’re all excited...I think Portadown getting to the semi-final of the BetMcLean Cup is absolutely unbelievable in itself and the fact that we’re playing Glenavon a bonus.

“It’s all there for us to go and enjoy.”

Anticipation has been building for weeks in the red and blue towns but although only 7.6 miles divide the clubs on the map, a full division of league football is the difference in the table.

And Currie is clear Glenavon’s senior status puts any talk of a grand tradition in the past as his four-time Irish League champions now stand as second-tier Ports making the short journey to Lurgan with the underdogs tag.

"We’ve walked into every league game this year talked about as odds-on favourites...the bottom line for Tuesday is Glenavon, sitting sixth in the Premiership, are meant to be beat us as a Championship club,” said Currie. "I don’t care to be honest about history between the clubs as Glenavon and Portadown are in different stratospheres at the minute.

"We fighting to get back to a situation of playing Glenavon on Boxing Day and fighting for points in a league campaign.

"But this is football, anything can happen.”