Noah Mawéné’s eyes light up with surprise when he is told there was a strong Preston connection to the last time that Waterford brought the FAI Cup across the Suir bridge.

Brian Gardiner, a left-back who had arrived from Preston North End a couple of seasons earlier, etched his place in the club’s folklore with a bullet of a header that was enough to beat St Patrick’s Athletic at a packed Dalymount Park in the 1980 decider.

‘Oh really! Was he?’ the young midfielder smiles when made aware of his fellow Lancashire native. ‘That’s interesting. I’ll remember that and it will give me a bit more confidence now going into the game because I’m just going to leave everything out there to make sure we can bring the cup home to Waterford.’

Mawéné spent nine years at Deepdale, going through the age grades of the club where his father Youl was a defensive mainstay through much of the noughties. He left Preston for Fleetwood Town earlier this year and was almost immediately loaned out to Waterford, their sister club.

And he’s loved every minute of his time with the Blues. He’s living in a house with three other members of the squad and has immersed himself in the city. It seems to be having an effect on his football too, as he has collected a number of player of the match awards, topped off by his display in the cup semi-final win over Bohemians.

It wasn’t just that he cracked home the opening goal, which was his first for Waterford, but the 21-year-old’s mature performance in the heart of midfield, especially in the second-half, caught the eye and underlined his potential. Appearing in a cup final, and at the Aviva, was certainly not part of his expectations when he arrived over.

‘No, I definitely wasn’t expecting it. When I came over, I was just taking it game by game, and then you are in a semi-final and you think you have got half a sniff,’ Mawéné said. ‘It’s been amazing, the best possible scenario since coming over, played the maximum amount of games and reaching a Cup final and Waterford staying up.’

Growing up, Maw-éné became accustomed to how football can take players anywhere, as his father played in Greece as well as Aberdeen, with the family moving with him.

Mawéné snr is currently on the coaching staff at Burnley, but he will be one of over 30,000 in the Aviva Stadium for Sunday’s cup final against Derry City, which he has told his son to treat as just any other game.

Noah’s experienced big crowds before. He made his first start for Preston in the Championship away to Birmingham and there were more than 25,000 at St Andrew’s. And he’s played at a packed St Mary’s against Southampton. But Sunday will be special.

‘Birmingham away, always a big crowd and St Mary’s and the King Power too, but I feel this is going to be different, with the history and the fans and what it means to Waterford and the people.

‘This will mean a little more than my debut for me, personally.’