Lining out in a championship semi-final is a familiar position for Barry Mulrone and his Devenish team-mates. Getting over that hurdle though is a completely different proposition with Mulrone still waiting to play in his first senior championship final.
On Sunday, Devenish have another chance to put that right as they take on Derrygonnelly for a place in this year’s decider. 
“We’ve had too many semi-final let downs. I’ve been involved with the senior team since I was 18 and I don’t know how many semi-finals I’ve been in and we’ve never been able to get over the line. Hopefully we can change that this year,” said Mulrone.
Indeed, Mulrone feels that this is one of the strongest Devenish squads that he has been involved in during recent seasons.
“We’ve a bit more strength in depth in terms of our starting 15 this year and we’ve a few boys who can come on and effect the game which we maybe haven’t had over the last three or four years. We probably have our best balanced team from goalkeeper to the full forward line that we have had in the last number of years,” he added.
If they are to reach the final though they are going to have to do it the hard way by beating holders Derrygonnelly.
“Belleek and Roslea have been going well and they are all top four teams in the league bar ourselves. But you would have to say that Derrygonnelly have been favourites from the outset of the year and in terms of depth, they have the strongest squad. In saying that though I would be still fairly optimistic. We played well against Teemore and we still could have went on another notch. It is just a case of picking it up again and hopefully playing the same sort of style that we did,” stated Mulrone.
He is aware that it is going to take huge effort for Devenish to reach the final.
“It will take a big performance. You know what Derrygonnelly are going to give, they are a big physical outfit and they can play football as well. For us it is about matching them and bettering them for workrate and hunger. The breaking ball is going to be massive, the midfield battle will be huge and then it will be crucial not  to turn the ball over.”
And while it would be a moment to savour for Devenish if they could take that next step, Mulrone is not prepared to look any further than the challenge that lies ahead on Sunday.
“It would be great to get to the final. I’ve never been in too many finals bar underage and a few league finals so to get to a club championship final would be massive and hopefully if we could get there we would be fit to finish the job. However, all we are worrying about is the game against Derrygonnelly and trying to get over that one.”