For the first time in eight years, Mount Sion will line out in Walsh Park for the senior hurling county final this Sunday.
Forced to battle until the end against city rivals De La Salle, the monastery men were hard-fought winners at the end of the hour county star Austin Gleeson to the fore once again.
The former hurler of the year shot eight points (0.6, 2f) to help his side towards the winning result, with Martin O' Neill, Alan Kirwan, Owen Whelan, Stephen Roche, Jack Meaney, Jamie Gleeson and Evan Curran all popping up on the scoresheet.
Three points separated the sides at halftime, with Sion just barely in the lead. A first-half spell of 12 minutes saw the game go dead, with neither team able to take control of proceedings, but the second half caught fire with Sion managing to keep their noses in front long enough to celebrate at the full-time whistle.
Manager John Meaney was ecstatic to get over the line and commended his team's efforts in breaking their semi-final hoodoo.
"It's massive for this club. It's been a long time. We're knocking on the door with three years, we were beginning to question ourselves but in fairness to our group they're massive. The work they put in, the effort they put in, I can't speak highly enough of them. We're back. We're back in the final for the first time since 2014; didn't win it since 2006. We're playing our old friends and rivals Ballygunner. I'm looking forward to it immensely, and I suppose they are too".
Left to rue their chances in the opening 30 minutes, Sion were able to grab a hold of proceedings in the second spell. Salle's first-half onslaught stemmed the Sion tide but ended with a semi-stalemate in the middle of the field. Meaney acknowledged that his counterpart Ian Flynn had his homework done on how to stop their game. He said that the halftime talk was one of some home truths.
"This can not be the defining moment of this team" he said at the break. "We have to make this step, and in fairness to them, they dug deep. We are delighted to come out the right side of it."
More often than not, goals wins games, and when Martin O' Neill raised Sion's only green flag early in the first half, it helped to buoy his side forward to victory.
Not only the goal, but the three points he notched went a long way to keeping Sion on the hunt for equalling scores.
"Anytime you get a goal in a game it's important" Meaney remarked. "But yeah, the timing of it - three points up, starting the game against a gale of wind and we get the first goal. That goal really helped us in the end."
The old enemies Sion and Ballygunner will face off this Sunday, with Sion the most recent team to manage nine senior titles in a row. Meaney will be hoping that his team can be the ones to stop Ballygunner's charge to a record-equalling win, especially when we consider how close they came in last years semi.
"As I said before, last year counts for nothing. We'll go back and make a plan. We'll be ready. We'll be coming fighting next week and see what happens."
WLR will be bringing you the senior final live this Sunday thanks to George Corbett Skoda.
Michael Ryan will be joining Kieran O'Connor in the commentary box with throw-in at 2.30 pm.
