John Sheridan has endured so many false dawns that it is a wonder he bothers to get out of bed and draw the curtains in the morning.

The grizzled ball-winning centre-back and inspirational skipper of the Beith team preparing to take on Pollok in the ETHXenergy Scottish Junior Cup Final tomorrow has been an outstanding Junior player for nigh on 17 years.

He can rightly boast to having picked up West of Scotland Cup and Super Premier Division Championship winners medals during his time at Bellsdale Park.

However, success in the game’s No.1 competition has agonisingly eluded him throughout his mighty playing stint in much the same way as it has with his previous clubs, Neilston, Largs Thistle, Benburb and Rutherglen Glencairn.

He admits to long-standing regrets over three failed quarter-final appearances with Beith, Neilston and Largs.

However, Big Shez reckons the pride he will feel at leading Beith out tomorrow afternoon at Rugby Park will more than make up for all his past disappointments, not least because he is set to be hand in hand with son Ja , one of the Ayrshire club’s mascots on the day along with goalkeeper Stephen Grindlay’s boy Shay.

Beith followers are thought to have been more than a little concerned over the 37-year-old stopper’s availability for the cup final as he hasn’t featured at the heart of his side’s backline in the three weeks that have elapsed since he limped off with a hamstring strain during an early May encounter against Hurlford United.

So doubtless they will sleep a lot easier tonight for knowing the big man has declared himself fit and raring to go on this momentous occasion of the 78- year-old Ayrshire club’s first ever final appearance.

Shez, whose central defensive partnership alongside Kevin McDonald is pivotal to Beith’s hopes, admitted: "This game is payback time for all those Monday and Wednesday winter nights spent at training sessions and it just never entered my head to think I might miss out through injury.

“I felt a tightness on the hamstring and came off against Hurlford purely as a precautionary measure.

"However, our manager Johnny Millar didn’t want to run the risk of any aggravation and he left me on the sidelines even when I was putting myself forward to take part in games .

“I’m well rested up now and there are no worries over match fitness as I had been playing up to three games per week before picking up my injury and I wasn’t even blowing hard when Deco (coach Derek Rhodden) put us through our paces with a typically stiff training work out this week.”

Shez is adamant he will be playing on next season even if he is celebrating the crowning glory of his Junior career on Sunday night .

He added: "I’ve been asked the question and winning the Scottish Cup would definitely be a great way to bow out. However, I want to keep playing as long as possible and I’ve never entertained any thoughts of retirement even though I’m deemed to be well into the veteran stage .

“As long as I’m not embarrassing myself or letting the side down then I’ll give it my best shot and anyway I’m a relative youngster compared to Robbie Winters of Pollok who is only a few months away from his 42nd birthday.

“He is still going strong and in tandem with his brother David provides a real scoring threat for Pollok, but hopefully we can keep them quiet along with the other array of top notch strikers at Tony McInally’s disposal.

“People have said our best hope is to sit in and keep things tight, but I believe Johnny will set us up to win just as he did when we held a 3-0 lead going into our semi-final second leg game against Kilwinning Rangers so you can look for us taking the game to Pollok.

“Ours is a top quality playing squad with plenty of strength in depth to come off the substitutes bench and that could be decisive in the game’s latter stages.”

“And neither do we lack for potential match-winners as our front players Kenny McLean, Andy Reid and Darren Christie are every bit as formidable as the Pollok guys and as a defender, I wouldn’t fancy coming up against them when they’re on song.”

Relative newcomer Christie, who only signed from Neilston last summer, is confident he and his team-mates can cope with the pressure of their first ever final.

He said: "We were in at Rugby Park for a work out on Thursday evening and the playing surface is lightning quick which will suit us down to the ground and I believe we can cause problems for Pollok.

“Everyone regards them as a top side, but they are certainly not unbeatable as I know from being part of a Neilston team that were underdogs yet managed to knock them out of the Scottish Cup one season with a Charlie Hobbs goal and my record against them has been fairly decent even though we lost 4-2 at Newlandsfield earlier this season.

“We were going through a sticky patch back then and shedding too many goals but that defeat marked a turnaround in fortunes as we changed our shape and tightened up considerably to go on a great winning run.

“Every player is looking forward to the game and also our pre-match preparations which include a light meal at Bellsdale and the chance to meet up with our supporters whose backing has been important to us getting to the final.

“The entire population of Beith appear to be behind us and it says everything about the people of Ayrshire when I’m even receiving well wishes from Kilbirnie fans.”