FAI CUP FINAL COUNTDOWN: Emmet Malone talks to Kevin Mahon about his club's journey from near extinction to the brink of cup success.

It migh not be many people's idea of glamour, but five days before this Sunday's Carlsberg sponsored FAI Cup final at Tolka Park, Derry City manager Kevin Mahon has more on his mind than simply preparing his team for the game against Shamrock Rovers.

Under normal circumstances, City's journey south would be the final blow-out of the season and there would be little else to worry about. But the peculiar timing of this season's final means that in addition to sorting out the travel arrangements and accommodation for his squad on a bank holiday weekend in Dublin, there is the following Friday night's game back down at Richmond Park to arrange and any number of other small, mid-season matters to be looked after.

Mahon, though, is not complaining. After a couple of years juggling his work with NIACRO, an organisation that helps young offenders settle back into the community, he went full-time with City 10 months ago and everything since, even the endless demands placed upon him this week, has seemed easy by comparison.

"What I was trying to do back then," recalls the former City player, "just became impossible. I'd known it would be from the time that Felix (Healy) left and they asked me to take on the job and that's why I initially refused it. They were stuck, though, and so I said I said I'd help out on a very temporary basis because I still wanted to do my work and have my private life, and that wasn't going to be possible if I was managing the team.

"But then when I was there, the extent of the financial problems became apparent and I realised that the whole thing really might go down the river.

"I'd been a fan of this club since I was a kid. I mean, Derry City was my Real Madrid and though it was late in my career by the time I got to play for the club, it was like a dream come through when it finally happened, which goes a long way towards explaining why I've been here in one capacity or another ever since and why I finally agreed to stick with the job on a long-term basis."

At first, Mahon admits, the job mainly involved a series of tough meetings with players in which many of the more experienced - and therefore expensive - ones were let go and most of those who stayed were asked to take less money.

There was a balance to be achieved he says, "because if you're just seen to be exploiting local young lads then in the long term that's not good for anyone." But sure enough the wage bill was drastically reduced and a series of major fundraising successes turned the club around.

"I thought for a while we'd end up dropping back into the intermediate league to be honest," he says. "In a way I was okay with that. The club had survived there before and I felt we'd get ourselves together, then come back from it.

"What happened instead was amazing really. There were the games against Manchester United and Celtic, of course, they helped a lot, but I think what's been more important is that a lot of very good people became involved with Derry City.

"We have a young team now, take a couple of the lads out and the average age is 22, and a young support base as well. We're living within our means and just two years after being in so much trouble the future looks very bright."

There were some blips along the way, such as the departure for Shelbourne last year of club captain Peter Hutton. At the time, it seemed that the loss of the versatile defender, now returned, was a major blow but Mahon laughs now.

"Peter went to Shelbourne because he wanted to win a league and obviously we were very disappointed. But we discovered after he'd gone that our defensive record was better without him. The average age of the back four was 21 but they took on the responsibility and those lads were magnificent for us."

Since then his priority has been to add some width and a prolific goalscorer to the side.With the addition of both and an end to the run of long-term injuries that have afflicted City over the past couple of seasons, Mahon insists a real assault on the title would be feasible.

"We've been very open with our fans about the situation and I think the upshot of that is that they're very patient with us now. It hasn't always been easy, because sometimes you give people some information and it makes them hungry for more, and it's not always possible to get into the nitty gritty of a transfer or something like that.

"The plus side is that I think our supporters are just happy to be in this cup final. We're aiming to win it and it would be great for everybody at the club if we did, but if we don't people will realise that we did well to get this far in such a short space of time."