Dungannon hometown hero Rodney McAree targets Irish Cup win as 'pinnacle of my career'

However, for Rodney McAree and Dungannon Swifts it is one that stings.

The County Tyrone side were denied their first-ever Irish Cup triumph on that fateful spring day as they were beaten by Linfield on penalty kicks.

McAree scored in that eventful 2-2 draw but three spot-kick misses in the shoot-out shattered any dreams.

Nearly 18 years on, McAree and Dungannon have the chance to put that right as they meet Cliftonville at Windsor Park this afternoon.

When asked if he will bring any memories from 2007 into today's encounter, McAree replied: "I think you have to enjoy the occasion. You have to suck it up as much as you can but then you have to play the game.

"We know Cliftonville have been involved in the last two cup successes here beating Glentoran recently in the League Cup and Linfield in last year's Irish Cup final.

"I was at that game and the atmosphere was superb. We've tried to give our players as much experience of that as possible.

"I'm not going to do the Mikel Arteta and bring the speakers out onto the pitch or anything like that, but you do try and find ways to get it across to the players.

"It's going to be a fantastic occasion for us. Looking back at the last final, if it goes to penalties again I might take the second one myself! If I had done that in 2007 we possibly might have won it as Linfield missed the first two and we missed our second.

"Dungannon Swifts in my lifetime don't look like they will ever win the league, so to win an Irish Cup is right at the top.

"Obviously off the back of it comes European qualification and it gives you the opportunity to maybe progress through a round of that too.

"There's a financial reward, individual reward, collectively as a group of staff and players it would be fantastic to achieve that.

"It's going to be tough but we've put ourselves in this position. We've done what we've done all season, why not go and do it one more time?

"We know it's going to take a performance like we've put in along the way this season if we are going to overturn a very good Cliftonville side which has good players and is well managed by Jim (Magilton).”

Dungannon’s season has been an historic one as they qualified for the top-six for the very first time en-route to reaching the Irish Cup final.

McAree, who is currently enjoying his second stint at the helm, admits he has had to “pinch himself” at his side’s progression.

"It's really tough at the start of every season as you can find yourself sitting bottom after five or six games wondering where you're going to get a result from,” he added.

"We probably got off to a decent enough start and you pull yourself away from it. It becomes a bit of a habit in terms of results, but it also breeds a lot of confidence and belief into the changing room.

"You're just trying to ride that crest of a wave for as long as you can. I don't think you can do that for as long as we have if you don't have quality in the changing room.

"You pinch yourself when you start to think you're in an Irish Cup final.

"I was driving down the motorway thinking 'Am I dreaming this?'. Coming from my background it's something special to be involved in."

Hometown boy McAree acknowledged that there has been a feel-good factor around Stangmore Park in recent months – a feat that he wants to continue moving forward.

"Everything has been good,” he continued.

"The atmosphere is good around the changing room and the buzz around the club is good.

"You hear about people buying tickets and you're just hoping to have as many people there as possible.

"The loyal fans are really looking forward to it and hopefully the community follows them.

"Everybody at the start of the season wants to be involved in the Cup final on the first Saturday in May.

"It was always a dream to play in one and it's always been a dream to be a manager in it, so I'm looking forward to it.

"I want as many headaches as possible going into the final, I want everybody fit and have that unfortunate job where I have to leave people out of the squad.

"I want as many options as I can and thankfully we are in a healthy position."