WHILE Stephen Geoghegan prepared for this evening's FAI Cup semi final as a member of Mick McCarthy's squad in Macedonia, for his brother Declan the build up had a considerably more mundane air about it.
With everyone at Shelbourne still insisting that it is too early yet to concede that stealing the league is entirely out of the question it's business as usual for the 33 yea old full back who is enjoying life at Tolka Park more than ever these days.
Signed by Colm Murphy after Monaghan United's finances had crumbled, things did not start well for Geoghegan at Tolka Park where he languished in the reserves for the last few months of the Englishman's reign due, he feels, to his preference for playing the ball along the ground,
The arrival of Damien Richardson at the club always seemed likely to mark the start of better times for the Dubliner, though, and over the past couple of seasons he has flourished in a side built upon the rocks of neat passing, good movement off the ball and a fair measure of talent.
His one reservation remained the formation employed by Richardson which, with its attacking wing backs, is more suited to the style of team mate Pascal Vaudequin than the more orthodox full back that Geoghegan sees himself as.
"I think the switch back to four at the back suited me a lot because I'm much more confident in a role that I've played for a lot longer," he says. "It's not just me, though, I think it suits the whole team better because we used to leave gaps - the other way and we didn't really have anybody in the centre with exceptional pace to cover them."
He points to the run of 14 matches unbeaten that the team enjoyed after the switch as evidence of its success but knows that if Pat Morley fails a fitness test this afternoon he may well end up back out wide in a five man midfield for tonight's match in Waterford.
He sees Tony Sheridan as one potential match winner and his brother Stephen another.
"The likes of Sheridan can change a match for you in a few seconds while Stephen and Pat's goals this season have been a big part of getting us this far. We won't underestimate them, though, because they have been going well lately and they'll be hard to beat in front of that many of their own fans."
If Shelbourne do lose then most observers would agree that, bar the scrap for a place in Europe, their season is over but Geoghegan, in common with his team mates, is adamant that this game is merely a welcome diversion from the side's more constant obsession.
"Whatever anyone else says, we still think that we can win the league. We've made a few mistakes in games lately that haven't helped but Derry still have to come down to us in a couple of, weeks and a lot could depend on that."
