The Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park is hosting this season’s Clearer Water Irish Cup semi-finals this weekend.
First up later today is the last four clash between Cliftonville and Dungannon Swifts, while the tie between Larne and Coleraine is being staged tomorrow (Saturday 4 April).
A repeat of last year’s final in Northern Ireland’s premier cup competition, the Reds v Swifts game has a 7.45pm kick-off. Tomorrow’s game between the Bannsiders and the Inver Reds has a 3pm start.
One point currently separates cup holders Dungannon Swifts and last year’s beaten finalists Cliftonville in the NIFL Premiership table, with the Reds in fifth place and the Swifts sixth.
Reds boss Jim Magilton wants his players to embrace the occasion at the National Stadium this evening when Cliftonville will be looking to reach the Irish Cup decider for the third consecutive year.
He told the Cliftonville website: “When I hear ‘you don’t play the occasion, you play the game’, I think that’s a complete load of bunkum.
“You work so hard to play in these games, these games should motivate you, never intimidate you.
“They should inspire you. These are the matches you work so hard to play in, you should embrace the occasion because it’s such a huge event.
“To win and play in a semi-final only adds to the absolute pleasure of then going and representing your club in an Irish Cup Final, so I’ve never bought into that as a player nor as a manager.
“I think the occasion is there – it should be a big event, players should want to play in big events, enjoy the occasion, embrace it and then go out and play.”
Swifts boss Rodney McAree says Cliftonville are a good side and he believes the game will be “tough”.
McAree told the News Letter: “It's going to be a great occasion… you're playing as one of the only four teams left in the Irish Cup and you're one of those teams.
"That was something that we sampled last year. Obviously we won it last year and we’ve had a fantastic time celebrating it.
"However, this is an opportunity that if we win our next match then we get through to another big occasion. We want to be involved in another big occasion.”
Larne and Coleraine have been battling it out at the top of the NIFL Premiership all season. Larne currently top the standings, while Coleraine are third.
Larne have never won the trophy, although they have reached the final six times.
Inver Reds boss Gary Haveron would love to be the manager to change that record, however he knows it will not be an easy task to do it.
He said: "It’s one we've got to look forward to and embrace. It's a semi-final, it’s a good day out for fans and everyone else, but a semi-final is all about getting to the final – nobody wants to get to a semi-final and for it to stop there.
"You want to go all the way to the final and give your fans the day out that they deserve.
"It's a difficult task. Coleraine have a fantastic squad, fantastic management team and everything else, so it will be very, very difficult, but we look forward to the challenge."
Coleraine boss Ruaidhri Higgins said his team will be up for the game.
He told the Coleraine Chronicle: “It's gonna be difficult, for sure, but it's really, really exciting and it's what we all want to be a part of - the business end of the season, playing in big games.
“That's certainly why I joined the club and certainly why a lot of our players joined the club, too.
“Now we have an opportunity against a really good side who have had an amazing season.
“They'll get our full respect, but it's a cup semi-final and we want to progress and give everyone in Coleraine a big day out. That's what we want to achieve.”
Both games are being show live on the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport NI website.
Tickets are still available for both semi-finals at irishfa.com/tickets.
