Cameron McJannet says Derry City have four cup finals to look forward to before the real deal at the Aviva Stadium next month.
That’s the number of Premier Division games remaining as they try to keep the pressure on leaders Shamrock Rovers.
Tonight they host Shelbourne - the team with which will do battle in the FAI Cup decider on November 13 - but there is no talk of Cup final dress rehearsals in the Ryan McBride Brandywell.
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In fact, there is very little attention being paid within Ruaidhri Higgins’ squad to the fact that they are 90 minutes away from Cup glory.
“After Sunday (when Derry beat Treaty in the semi-final) it was straight back to work because we’ve got four league games left,” insisted McJannet.
“It was straight back down to business. We’ve got to try and win these last four games and see what we can do.
“Of course it can be difficult to switch your focus, but as soon as we won we thought, the Cup final is in a few weeks so we can put that to the backs of our minds now.
“We have to focus on the fact that we’ve got four cup finals for ourselves before the actual Cup final.
“I’ve seen it written a couple of times now, that (tonight) is a dress rehearsal, but in our minds we have to win this one.
“When we play them in a few weeks’ time, it will be completely different again.
“It might be the same teams, but I don’t think it will be anything like a dress rehearsal.”
Just as Derry eyes are off the Cup final, they aren’t paying much attention either to the fact that table-toppers Rovers dropped points in Drogheda last Sunday.
“We’ve said all season, we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves and you never know, we might do something,” said the defender.
“The whole time we’ve just been concentrating on ourselves.
“We know if we do what we want to do and need to do, that we’ll have something to play for in the last few games of the season.”
McJannet these days sees a different side to his adopted hometown to the one that greeted his arrival in the summer of 2020.
“When I signed it was very different, it was Covid and everything was shut down,” he said.
“Obviously in that short Covid season we struggled and now we are pushing for things.
“It’s great, you can see the real turnaround and you can see how the people of Derry and the fans are all excited, and it’s great to see.
“It is pushing us on, it motivates us more to see so many people so happy.
“You can feel the whole city getting behind you. You are getting your milk from the shop and someone comes up and says, ‘Good luck’. It’s very nice. It’s a good vibe.”
There is a good vibe too in the Shelbourne camp, thanks to their progress to next month’s FAI Cup final.
McJannet knows they cannot take anything for granted when Damien Duff’s side visits the Ryan McBride Brandywell tonight.
“Shels are always at it. They are tough to beat. They have beaten us already this season, so we’ve got to be nothing less than fully at it. We’ll do our very best, obviously,” he said.
“But this is exactly what you want at the start of the season. That’s why you play football, to compete for every game.
“We’ve gotten to a stage now where we’ve got to win (tonight) and then the next one. In our minds, there is no other possibility, we just have to get it done.
“Every game now is a cup final and we have to win them.”
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