In more than 30 years of Energia AIL rugby, only one club has ever gone back-to-back.
It's 18 years since the great Shannon team of the 2000s beat Clontarf at Lansdowne Road to win their third title in a row, and fourth in five years.
The Limerick club enjoyed a similar spell of dominance in the 1990s when they won four in a row between 1995 and 1998, but they remain the only club to be crowned champions in successive years.
Plenty of sides have tried and failed, even in recent seasons; Clontarf's bid last year was denied by Terenure in the final, Cork Constitution's double attempt in 2018 was ended by Lansdowne in the decider, while the previous season it was Con who halted Clontarf from back-to-back final wins.
The latest team looking to break that streak are Terenure, with the defending champions set for a showdown against Cork Con at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday (4pm).
The Dublin side became champions for the first time ever last season when they beat Clontarf 50-24, having lost to the Castle Avenue team the previous year.
"Jesus, it felt like only yesterday, you know? It was such an amazing experience," captain Harrison Brewer says, as he reflects on bringing the cup back to Lakelands Park last May.
"You can get used to that feeling, walking down the avenue with a trophy like that."
Such was the nature of last year's 26-point win in the final, Sean Skehan's side were heavily tipped to contend again this year, and while they would go on to finish top of the table, winning each of their last 12 regular season games, it came after an inauspicious start where they lost three of their first six.
There was a learning curve to being the team to beat, as they faced the best version of their opponents, who all wanted a crack at the champions.
"We've probably never had that ever to be honest, to have that feeling where - especially when you're going away from home - crowds are getting up and all the teams just really wanted to beat you," added the 29-year-old, who has had professional spells in both New Zealand and Japan.
"But look, that just comes with winning and how you react to it.
"We obviously didn't have the smoothest start this season and we kind of had to sit down and think 'Jeez, lads, we haven't won anything here'."
The real awakening came in Round 3 back in October, when they welcomed this Sunday's opposition Cork Constitution to Dublin 6W. Twelve months earlier they had won 47-12 against Con, having been 47-0 in front at the break, but a comprehensive 20-0 defeat at home hit them like a bucket of cold water.
"I still think about it to be honest," added the Terenure captain, whose father Mike Brewer is a former New Zealand international back row and ex-Leinster coach.
"I've been in the club since I was about 10 years old. I don't think I've ever been nilled at home, and that's being completely honest. So that one really hurt."
Part of the reason for that slow start came from a lot of off-season change.
On the pitch they lost second row Michael Melia to emigration and loosehead prop Marcus Hanan to injury-enforced retirement, while trying to bed new players into the side, such as former Munster wing Conor Phillips, former Connacht prop Conan O'Donnell, and versatile back Aran Egan, who had come across from Dublin University.
Behind the scenes there were also changes, assistant coaches Emmet McMahon and Simon Malone left for UCD and Young Munster respectively, while Andy Skehan - brother of head coach Sean - joined the ticket.
As the season progressed there were further departures with Conall Boomer and Caolan Dooley, who kicked 30 points from the tee in last year's final, moving to the Chicago Wolfhounds in Major League Rugby, while hooker Sean McNulty also went stateside to Miami Sharks.
Having edged out Con and Clontarf to top spot, they were given a real scare by Lansdowne in last week's semi-final, with the former champions coming from 25-6 down early in the second half to draw level at 28-28 late on, before Egan's penalty with the final kick of the game brought them to a third AIL final on the trot.
And now, with the chance of successive titles ahead of them, Brewer isn't shying away from their ambitions.
"We were chatting about it the other night, and for us I think it's trying to not be that team, that one-hit wonder," he said.
"We want to be remembered like that Shannon back-to-back side, I think in the early 2000s. We want to be that kind of side. We've spoken about it all week, to not be a one-hit-wonder.
"Getting back to the final is nice but you've got to do the business and bring the pot home, to be remembered like that Shannon side.
"I think a big, big person that we need to kind of take in, is Sean Skehan, when he came in [in 2019]. He's instilled this winning culture and this standard that we have to meet every week on and off the field.
"He's a pretty special coach, and I actually do think he's going to kick on to bigger and better things.
"He wanted to break up the big three with Lansdowne, Con and Tarf. That was big.
"He wanted to kind of instill that in us, and that we were going to be like a side like that. So yeah, that it was key for us to get back to a final like this for the third year in a row."
The club's recent success has seen a large bandwagon develop at Lakelands.
Last year's attendance of 8,642 was a record for a final since the Aviva Stadium redevelopment, and that number could be under threat in Sunday with the men's and women's finals now a double-header.
Even last week, more than 4,000 people squeezed into Terenure's grounds for their semi-final win over Lansdowne, while all week local business have displayed Nure jerseys, good luck messages, and purple, black and white decorations in their windows.
He said: "It's stuff you dream of, playing at that level. The club, from on the pitch and off the pitch as well, some of the stuff they're doing to attract the crowds.
"It's absolutely huge, it just gives you that extra push. We might have been slightly bold with the crowd, maybe, last year, but I think it was great for the league to see the see the numbers like that, and hopefully now we can get a bit more than that.
"I think it just shows the kind of level of community that we have in Terenure. And then also, Con are going to travel really well.
"But it's just a great advocate for the game, because I do think the league's probably at its best now. It's been such a gruelling year and yeah, I think the fans are in for a good one now on Sunday."
These days are still quite alien to the club, who hadn't even reached a Division 1A final prior to 2022.
And for a local like Brewer, it doesn't get any better than this.
"When I was coming out of school, I was chucked in when we were in [Division] 2A and 1B," he said.
"And then my first years in the seniors was relegation battles, if I'm being honest.
"No, I didn't think I'd ever be in this situation. I'm just enjoying every minute of it."
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