Waringstown captain Greg Thompson looking to finish the job after reaching another three finals

The 26-time champions are back in their first competition showdown since beating CSNI in 2018 after defeating the same opposition in last month’s semi-final.

They’ve also booked their spot in the LVS Twenty20 Cup final against CIYMS and will take on Leinster later this month as they look to secure a seventh Irish Senior Cup crown.

Thompson, who is enjoying a successful second stint as captain after taking over again ahead of this season, knows what it takes to get over the line in these competitions but says nothing has been achieved yet.

"You don't get a winners medal for getting into a final - you need to go one step further,” he said. “We've given ourselves three great opportunities to do so and Friday happens to be the first one because the Twenty20 Cup final was rained off.

"We look forward to hopefully going out on Friday, enjoying ourselves – which has been a theme of the season – and carry it into a good performance.

"Carrick will be dangerous. It's well-publicised that it's their first final and they will want to make a day of it and represent their club to the best of their ability. They are no pushovers and are a very competitive team.

"We've come up against them plenty in cups recently and came out on the wrong side so we won't be taking them lightly."

The return of Ireland international James McCollum is a timely one as they head into a crucial period of the season and Thompson is delighted to have him back involved.

"He had been ready to go for a couple of weeks but the weather curtailed that return,” he added. “It's great to have him back and to be able to add somebody back in whose last competitive innings was at Lord's certainly is a real bonus.

"He has had a great season for us with his contributions when he has played but it hasn't been often because of injury.

"We hope he goes well on Friday and we've some big matches coming up. He's one of our big-game players."

Thompson has been Waringstown’s star player this season, balancing leadership duties by scoring over 700 runs and seemingly contributing every time he walks to the crease.

He credits the arrival of club coach James Cameron-Dow, who has also played an unexpected key role with the ball this season due to injuries and representative call-ups, for allowing him to play with complete freedom.

"The fact that James Cameron-Dow is leading training and taking a lot of responsibility away from me by taking warm-ups on matchdays and he's a great sounding board for decisions that have to be made on the pitch,” he said. “That has allowed me to focus more on my batting and it's going well.

"I'm delighted that after the two-week break due to weather that I was able to pick up where I left off against CSNI because that's important.

"Hopefully it continues but whether or not I score runs in these matches we still have enough quality that if it's not me it'll be Morgan (Topping), James, Pat Botha is doing really well since he moved to three, Adam Dennison is there – there's strength in depth and knowing that allows me to play with the freedom I enjoy."