Dean Curry ready to grab Irish Cup Final chance after career comeback

Captain Fantastic Dean Curry wants to repay Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree when they face Cliftonville in Saturday’s Clearer Water Irish Cup Final.

The ex-Institute man insists that the former Glentoran and Coleraine boss has been great to him after he thought his career was over in September.

Curry has a knee serious cartilage injury and when he broke down after their league game at Coleraine last year, he thought he was going to have to retire, but McAree along with the physiotherapist at the club, got him back.

“Last September at Coleraine I thought my career was over, because I kept breaking down, but to be fair to the club, they tried every avenue to get me going, they got me an injection and managed my load,” he explained.

“I only go on the bike on a Thursday and don’t even train at all during the week, I just cycle and then the manager has shown the faith in me to stay fit and hopefully I can repay him.

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“I broke down in tears at Coleraine that day, because I thought my career was over, but mentally it has been good to just stay in and around the group, everyone has been positive for me, and to be fair to the two physio’s they’ve been excellent with me.

“Both Steven Syminton and Dylan McGee have been great, they’ve done everything that they can to get me out on the pitch each week, so I’m obviously delighted I decided to stay.

“The manager Rodney is class and I said recently, he’s the best manager in the league and he’s the best manager I ever played under.

“He has put his full faith in me and I just want to reward him with performances and just stay consistent for him, to be fair I think we have as a group this year, the whole squad has chipped in all season, but we just have to keep doing it.”

As for McAree, he can’t praise his skipper enough and feels his professionalism both on and off the pitch is second to none.

“Dean has been unbelievable for me,” stated the Swifts gaffer. ”In September against Coleraine, we probably didn’t think Dean would be available for the final, because he was in floods of tears to be honest and he thought his career was over.

Dungannon Swifts fans are hoping that their team will create club history this weekend by winning their first ever Irish Cup.

“He has a bad knee injury, it's a bone-on-bone problem and he’s been struggling with it all season, but the physios have managed to work with him, get him a brace, get him different things that have helped him and he has got back on the pitch.

“We’ve had to look after him, in terms of training and stuff, but he has been an absolute star to be honest.

“I think he has got great leadership qualities, he wants to win, he wants to win every ball, every header, every tackle and every game he plays in.

“He never misses a training session, he never misses anything and he’s probably one of the first players in the door; he’s always raring to go and he’s a joy to have around.

“I don’t think I’ve worked with too many better lads than Dean Curry. He maybe isn’t technically the greatest footballer I’ve worked with and I’m not being rude about that, but he’s a fantastic left sided centre-half.

“He probably knows his limitations and he’s learned from experience what he’s good at and what he’s not good at. He does the simple things, very, very well and as I said he’s just a joy to have at the club.”

The 30-year-old, who scored in Swifts' Irish Cup semi-final win over Bangor, knows it’s going to be tough against the cup holders; the sides can’t be separated this campaign as both teams have two victories each in their previous four games this season, although the former Lisneal College student feels the Reds have move ‘big game experience’ than the Stangmore Park men.

“Cliftonville are a massive team and the thing that they have is experience on the big day, which will help them,” he added.

“Whenever we started our cup run, if you win five games you win the cup, we’ve been just ticking them off each round and now we’ve just one more game to go.

“Anything can happen on the big day and I’m looking forward to it.

“We had two wins in our last two league games and thankfully we performed, because we wanted to ensure we go into the cup final with a few good results and we’ve done that.

“We wanted to build momentum and we’ve done that. We always knew that there was no point stopping and thinking we could turn it on in the cup final, so it has all been about preparation and doing things right over the last few games of the league season.”

The Kilfennan native admits he would have loved to have signed for the County Tyrone men earlier in his career and also states he’s going to have a good support travelling to Windsor Park, on Saturday.

“When I left Stute to go to Ballinamallard in the Championship, I wanted to play in the Premiership and obviously I got my chance under Dean Shiels, as he brought me to Dungnanon and that was the best move I ever did and I just wish it has come earlier in my career,” explained Curry. “It’s an excellent club, it’s all volunteer’s, just like Stute.

“We had to get tickets sorted a few weeks ago and I think I had to ask for over 30 tickets, so the whole family is going and I think half of the Waterside is also coming up to the final.

“Look, it’s good and having the big day out is brilliant for my family, they can all take the train up and have a bit of craic and hopefully we’ll be celebrating at the end.”