It’s the dream of every football supporter to make history with the club you love.
For Rodney McAree, that’s exactly what has happened.
He will be in the dugout as Dungannon Swifts look to win the Irish Cup – the showpiece event for club football in Northern Ireland – for the first time.
McAree is from the town, and after a stint playing for Fulham, where he became a cult hero, he returned home to Stangmore Park.
In 2007, the Irish Premiership underdogs were denied a first Irish Cup success on penalties to Linfield.
McAree scored a first-half equaliser and netted his penalty in the shootout, but it ended in heartbreak.
He stepped into the dugout at the club after he hung up his boots, and led the club to its first senior trophy in the League Cup in 2018.
After stints at Coleraine and Glentoran, he returned to the Swifts in 2023 and now he’s looking to make even more history on Saturday.
“It means everything, really. I’m a Dungannon Swifts fan,” said McAree.
“Whenever I was away from the club and you see it not doing as well as you want to see it doing, it hurts.
“Whenever I got the opportunity to go back it came at a time when I felt it was right for me to go back.
“People maybe looked at it as a bit of a step backwards from where I was, but I saw it as a challenge.
“I went to see if I could do something or create something special, and to get to the Irish Cup final is something special.
“Now that we’re in the cup final we want to try and go to win it.”
