IT has been a strange lead into Saturday’s quarter-final against Portglenone (Dunsilly, 5pm) for Gort na Móna who had to hope for a result in their favour on the final day of Group Three to advance.

The Turf Lodge side lost by four in a fairly positive showing against last year’s finalists, Aghagallon, in their opener before a draw with Tír na nÓg in a game they felt they should have won.

It left them on the sidelines, hoping the Randalstown side were further adrift of Aghagallon and that proved the case with the St Mary’s club 10-point winners, sending the Gorts through to the last eight on scoring difference.

Regardless of how you get there, all teams were just aiming to make sure they were at the knockout stages and that’s where the Gorts find themselves as they prepare for a huge test against a team many are tipping to at least reach this year’s decider.

Whilst the club’s hurlers have continued with their fixtures, those football-only players were perhaps left wondering if their season was over or not until the final whistle in Randalstown a fortnight ago, but they are still in the hunt and while the period of uncertainty was not ideal, manager David McErlean said his players continued to work as though they were assured of their passage.

“It’s been rather unique, but something we spoke at length about after the Tír na nÓg game,” he said.

“There was nothing we could do, but we still had a small expectation we would be in this position so we still had to mentally prepare for this to happen, yet still, it wasn’t easy to navigate.

“We just said to the boys that we are still in the Championship until someone tells us otherwise.

“As a dual club with so many dual players, there have been a lot of games - especially for the hurlers who are in a group of five so I didn’t have to worry about them. But myself and Thomas (McCaffrey) had to look after the single code players and brought them up once or twice to get a bit of work done. When we knew the outcome of the Aghagallon-Tír na nÓg game, we took it from there.”

It has not been an ideal season for Gort na Móna who suffered relegation from Division One.

Paddy Nugent stepped down as manager after a couple of games and they were clearly unsettled, but as the league progressed, they certainly began to look more like themselves and put in some fine performances, but sufficient points eluded them to beat the drop.

Still, as they get ready to take on a Portglenone side brimming with talent including the Delargy clan, Dermott McAleese, Niall McKeever and a formidable supporting cast, there is a sense that things are in a relatively good place for the city side.

“When Paddy left, Thomas McCaffrey took the mantle on in a caretaker role, then asked if I would come to give him a hand,” McErlean explained.

“We felt there was a bit of a rut and we were losing games. We knew it was a big task to keep us up, so the objective was to change the mentality, create a better environment built on hard work but also make it enjoyable.

“We also had to work tactically to make us harder to beat and to an extent, we did that. We came up short and league tables don’t lie so we deserved to get relegated, but there were some games we were close in and in the end, we weren’t too far away.

“In a way, we achieved what we set out to in terms of changing the mindset and the boys have been fantastic, taking everything on board and delivered. Towards the end of the League, we were more compact and harder to beat, plus the fitness levels were better as we were able to play for longer instead of 40 minutes and dropping off.”

Portglenone ender Sunday’s game as big favourites, but the Gorts are unconcerned about that and will approach the game with faith in themselves.

Shocks can happen and should the men from Turf Lodge get over the line, this would be a big one, but there is a spring in the step having got out of the group that will have given confidence after turning their performances around at the start of summer.

“Portglenone have been the best team I’ve seen first-hand this year,” McErlean noted.

“They are an exceptional side and massive favourites, so we are under no illusions of the task ahead, but we have qualified for the quarter-final of the Championship and we are there on merit.

“We’ll prepare as best we can to give the best version of ourselves as we can. On any given Sunday in a GAA match, it’s 15 against 15 and anything can happen, so we’ll prepare to our best and if an opportunity comes on the day, we’ll be ready to take it.”