‘There is a definitely a rivalry there’ – Shelbourne’s Pearl Slattery ahead of ‘The Trilogy’ against Athlone

Little wonder they call it 'The Trilogy'.

For these two teams, it is not just about getting their mitts on the big tin, but ensuring their opponents must stand aside and watch it being ferried away in glory.

"There is a definitely a rivalry there, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't," says Pearl Slattery, who has had more big days out than most.

"But make no mistake, there is respect. Off the pitch, there is a lot of respect there, what they've done, what we've done over the years.

"But when it comes to gameday, we want to win and I'm sure they're the same. But I think it's brilliant. This trilogy now, it's set up.

"We won it in 2022, they won it in 2023 and I think for Irish football, women's football in this country, it's a brilliant thing, we need to be doing everything to get bums on seats.

"You see attendances all around the world at women's football and sport starting to build and hopefully we can do that."

Last year was a cracker, a momentous drama hurtling one way and then another before a shoot-out conclusion worthy of Tarantino or Leone.

They have had three games this year and cigarette papers have separated them; two wins and a draw. Athlone's league title win only guarantees extra motivation for each of them.

"For the neutral last year, it was a cracking cup final, it had a bit of everything," smiles Slattery. "I would imagine judging from the league games, there is nothing in it.

"Sunday will be a cracking game and we're just hoping we come out the other end of the it.

This is her ninth spin on the showpiece soccer occasion; she has won five of them in all but the losses often linger more.

"You'd be annoyed for a day or two but you can't dwell on it either," says the 35-year-old midfielder, who won three Cups with Raheny United, then two with Shels.

The Rialto native has lost people close to her so perspective is always available; she wouldn't be an emotional being however, or a proud professional, if the losses didn't intrude.

"There are worse things in life going on in the world. The days after, you're gutted, you don't want to speak to anyone, you're sitting in your room replaying loads of things.

"It's human isn't it? Then you go right, it wasn't our year. I would watch every game back whether we win or lose, it's obviously very hard.

"I think you're always hard on yourself, you think what could I have done, the build-up that I could do different. But you can't do it for too long. It has to motivate you.

"We probably felt we should have closed out the game last year. But we didn't. I'm around a long time and sometimes it's just written in the stars, I think it was Athlone's year last year.

"You're devastated. I wouldn't say anger but you're more sad for your teammates, family and friends that we're not celebrating."

And so here she is again, arguably performing as well as ever, as two player of the month trophies this term testify.

"I don't think anyone can argue we don't deserve to be here," she insists.

"We had a tough route, Galway away in the first round, that could have been the final in itself. You get another away draw against Rovers and you think nobody wants us to get to the final.

"But to go down to ten players and the way they responded, I thought that night was incredible as a group.

"Do I think we deserve to win something? Yeah. But I'm also around a long time and know you don't get what you deserve in football. It's a very harsh game. So our main priority is our performance."