While the bookmakers have bizarrely installed their opponents, Derry City, as favourites to win the FAI Cup, the hunger for success of his inexperienced side is what Waterford United player/manager Alan Reynolds is banking on in the first of the semi-finals at the Brandywell tonight.
Reynolds, who with his squad has never played in an FAI Cup final, is also happy to continue being underdogs, confident in his side's good away record during his first season in charge.
"I was actually looking forward to an away draw in the semi-final," said Reynolds, whose side won 1-0 at Derry in the league earlier in the season, and were leading by the same score a fortnight ago when the match was abandoned due to a floodlight failure.
"I'm hoping my players and the club are so hungry to do well and win something, that it can push us through to the final.
"We started well up there the last time and hope to do the same again. We got a good result in Drogheda last week and, while we're not over-confident, we're going up there in the right frame of mind.
"We haven't been backed all year. Nobody fancies us to do anything and we're probably better off like that," added Reynolds who has become familiar with the feeling of losing a cup semi-final, having done so on three occasions already.
Derry manager Stephen Kenny, Reynolds' manager during a season at Longford, has lost two semis. Winning tonight would see him bring a third club to a cup final inside five seasons.
"How we are favourites for the cup is ridiculous," said Kenny. "We're ninth in the table, Waterford are fourth, Drogheda second while Longford are the cup holders.
"We're just delighted to get here. I don't think any of us would have believed we could get this far when we were 1-0 down to Shelbourne at Tolka Park in the third round."
With Michael Holt suspended, Killian Brennan cup-tied and Sean Hargan almost certain to be unfit due to a foot injury, Kenny has no left-footed player available.
Striker Gary Beckett is also a doubt with a hamstring strain.Peter Hutton returns from suspension while Eamon Doherty also comes back into the side having been dropped last week.
Reynolds has central defender Pat Purcell, a member of the Limerick FC team that won the League Cup at Derry two years ago, fit again following an ankle injury. Vinny Sullivan is suspended.
Cork City hope to maintain their resurgence in the league when they meet free-falling Shamrock Rovers at Turner's Cross - their first home match in six weeks. A second successive win - after four matches without one - would move Pat Dolan's side back up to fourth place, three point behind Bohemians with a game in hand.
Denis Behan is added to the squad, though the starting 11 from last week's win at Dublin City is likely to remain unchanged.
Rovers, with one point from their last seven games, welcome back striker Trevor Molloy from suspension but must rejig their defence in the absence of the banned Jason McGuinness. Trevor Croly (groin) and Pat Deans (back) remain sidelined.
"We've done well against Cork," said Rovers' manager Noel Synnott. "But Turner's Cross is always a difficult place to go and we will have to dig in."
TONIGHT'S FIXTURES (7.45 unless stated): FAI Cup semi-final: Derry City v Waterford United. National League: Premier Division: Cork City v Shamrock Rovers. First Division: UCD v Galway United.
