Stuart Thompson praises CSNI's young guns after starring in Challenge Cup triumph
CSNI captain Stuart Thompson hailed the contributions of his young stars after the Stormont side ended their decade-long wait for further Gallagher Challenge Cup glory by beating Instonians on Friday.
Across recent years, the Belfast club have placed an emphasis on providing opportunities to the club’s talented next generation – and that effort was rewarded on the biggest stage in local cricket with 18-year-old James West top-scoring (70) as CSNI posted 258/9.
West shared an opening stand of 91 with Marc Ellison (39) and put on 69 for the second wicket alongside Ashwin Hebbar (46), before 19-year-old Adam Leckey (4/33) starred with the ball.
With Ireland international Jordan Neill, Jake Collingwood, Finn Lutton, Harry Dyer and Ryan Hunter all still aged only 20, the future is certainly bright at CSNI – and Thompson knew they’d step up in the showpiece decider.
"I’m not really surprised, to be honest,” Thompson told the NCU’s social media channels. "The talent has always been there.
"The maturity levels and how they go about their cricket now has come on so much in the last 12-18 months, they’re starting to turn in performances week in, week out now which is what you’re looking for in younger players.
"The talent has always been there, it’s just can you add consistency to your game, and they’re doing it.
"It has been excellent to watch and it’s great as a skipper when you have those tools.”
CSNI last won the Challenge Cup in 2016 – they were beaten finalists in both 2018 and 2022 – before sealing weekend success by a margin of 108 runs.
Thompson’s men will hope Friday’s triumph is only the sign of things to come with CSNI set to face Pembroke in next Sunday’s Irish Senior Cup decider.
"It feels great,” reflected Thompson. “It has been a long time coming, we’ve worked really hard for it.
"I thought with the performance today we genuinely deserved it.
"We were probably in a false position there at 160/1, I thought the pitch did plenty throughout and it was a great cricket wicket...260 as a chase at Stormont is tough work and I knew if we got early wickets we’d have a great chance of winning.
"The boys stuck at it so well, I’m really proud of them. It has been an excellent season so far but we still have one more trophy to try and win.”