Things have changed a bit at Longford since Portmarnock fullback Brian Stenson had his last taste of life in the National League with the club back in the early nineties.

Basic facilities, little by way of financial rewards and the hassle of having to travel all over the country convinced Stenson that the senior game simply wasn't worth it.

"In fairness, the club has come an awful long way since then," says Stenson (31) as he prepares to tackle his former club in tomorrow's second semi-final of the FAI Cup at Tolka Park.

"Portmarnock may only be a junior club but I'd say we're a good bit more professional in the way we do things than Longford were at that stage," he adds with a smile.

Pressure of work may have prompted Stenson's return to junior football after stints with Bohemians (where he never made the first team), Kilkenny City and Longford but it was through his relationship with the niece of Portmarnock boss John Hayes that he ended up switching from Malahide to his current club back in 1994.

Since then he's been the regular right back in a side that has earned a reputation as one of the tightest defences in junior football. "I might have had some doubts at the time," he says, "but once I got into the team and we started winning things I just loved it. I think it's the same with a lot of the lads here. They're as good a bunch as I've played with anywhere, eight or nine of them could probably live in the first division of the National League. That's why I think we were able to surprise Dundalk and why I think we have a chance of doing the same against Longford."

Certainly the club has become a force in the junior game, winning a couple of AUL Premier Division titles in a row and lifting the Junior Cup for the first time last year.

Sadly, Stenson missed that final and was unsure as he watched his team-mates collect the trophy last year whether he would play again after suffering a double fracture to his leg in the quarter-final win over Baldoyle.

"There were times when I didn't think I'd make it back," says the Dubliner who might well, in fact, have missed the victory over Dundalk a couple of weeks ago if it hadn't been for the repeated postponements of the game.

"I only got back into training in November and it was St Stephen's Day before I could take part in any sort of game. So I think I just had one game under my belt by the time the Dundalk match got played.

"It was fantastic to be involved," he says, "because it was another piece of history for the club, like winning the AUL or last year's cup."

The team's reputation is as a defensive side but Stenson insists the description is not entirely fair. "We like to go out and have a go at people," he says, "it's just that we don't give much away at the back, particularly if we get our noses in front."

They hope to do just that against Longford after which they would be happy to sit back and frustrate the part-time professionals.

"Our manager and one of the coaches went up to see them during the week and we had a bit of a chat about them afterwards. They feel that we have every chance against them, although I suppose we won't be a surprise for them the way we were for Dundalk."

If they were to win, their enormous backlog of league games (they have 19 still to play) would become an even greater problem while they have also qualified for the last 32 of this year's junior cup. Still, the Portmarnock players will hardly be complaining and Stenson has got even bigger plans.

"Beating them isn't enough," he laughs, "after missing out on the junior medal last year I'm looking for a senior one this time around."