How difficult is it to win back-to-back Irish Cups?

Dungannon Swifts will set out to win the Irish Cup for the second season in a row when they take on Coleraine in the final at Windsor Park on Saturday. Rodney McAree's men held their nerve to beat Cliftonville on penalties in last year's decider to win the competition for the first time. Now the Swifts will aim to write more history by becoming only the seventh side ever to win the competition back-to-back.

They will aim to follow Lisburn Distillery and Linfield (who have both won it three years in a row), Cliftonville, Glentoran, Belfast Celtic and Crusaders in doing so. So, just how difficult is it to retain the Irish Cup? First win 'whets the appetite for more' There is no better man to ask than current Limavady United and former Crusaders and Linfield midfielder Philip Lowry.

Lowry has enjoyed a distinguished career in Irish League football with plenty of trophies, including six Irish Cup final victories. During his first three years with the Blues, Lowry won the Irish Cup three years on the spin in 2010, 2011 and 2012. After making the switch to Crusaders in 2016, Lowry enjoyed three more Irish Cup final successes, one in 2019 then two-in-a row in 2022 and 2023.

When reflecting on his "really special memories" of his various Irish Cup wins, the 36-year-old said that the enjoyment of the occasion and celebrations that come with the first victory is key to teams embarking on more cup runs and winning the final again the next year. "I think once you get a taste for it, the occasion, how grand it is on the day, with the suits and the big crowds, it whets the appetite for more," he told BBC Sport NI. "It comes with getting that experience of that winning feeling.