Greg Thompson confident stars can come to the party once again as Waringstown chase seventh Irish Senior Cup crown

The Villagers already hold the record for most Irish Cup victories and this appearance marks their sixth final in the past seven seasons it has been held, winning three of those.

Thompson’s side have home advantage with the decider taking place at The Lawn and they are looking to add another trophy to last week’s Gallagher Challenge Cup triumph over Carrickfergus.

They remain in contention for the Robinson Services Premier League title while the County Down outfit have also booked their spot in the LVS Twenty20 Cup showdown with CIYMS as they aim to record another trophy-laden season.

What has made it all the more impressive is the fact they’ve had to navigate their way through multiple rounds without key players like James McCollum and Graham Hume while James Mitchell has been injured for long periods of the 2023 campaign.

It has handed the club’s next generation an opportunity to showcase their skills and Thompson is hoping that winning feeling can extend into the weekend.

"That's the belief amongst the squad,” he said. “We've had a lot of injuries, a lot of unavailability, guys being called up to representative teams, so we've had to go deep into the well and use all of our resources.

"We talked about getting into winning habits at the start of the season and doing the right things as often as possible.

"In those tight games and moments we've been able to do that. No doubt being at home has helped that and that's luck of the draw.

"We've made the most of it and played some good cricket. We've beaten three of the historically big teams within Leinster and teams we continually come up against in the Irish Senior Cup."

Leinster, who last won this competition in 2009, are packed full of quality with the likes of Ireland international Gareth Delany amongst the players Waringstown will have to keep quiet.

Waringstown have made their way past Newbuildings, Clontarf, Merrion and Pembroke on route to another final while Leinster have seen off NCU competition in the shape of CSNI and defending champions CIYMS alongside Phoenix and The Hills.

Thompson has plenty of players capable of performing on the biggest stages with Morgan Topping and Adam Dennison scoring centuries in a historic Challenge Cup victory at Stormont and he’s confident his key men can come to the party once again.

"We were drawn away to Leinster last season and we lost,” he added. “It was a very competitive game and they deserved to go through.

"We were missing one or two players but they did a number on us.

"We've done our research but at the end of the day it comes down to who steps up and who is willing to put in the big performance.

"Big matches require big players to put in big performances and we've a lot of guys who are willing to do that."

Elsewhere, today’s Robinson Services Premier League fixtures: Carrickfergus vs Derriaghy, Instonians vs North Down, Lisburn vs CSNI, Woodvale vs Cliftonville Academy.