WATCH: Junior final between County Antrim and County Armagh is huge for football in Northern Ireland

The two local squads will meet in Friday’s showpiece decider after they both came through their SuperCupNI semi-finals on Thursday.

County Antrim had a more straightforward victory as three second-half goals saw off St Patrick’s Athletic at The Showgrounds.

Michael Mulholland broke the deadlock with a clinical finish, before Senan Wright got in on the act with two goals of his own.

As for County Armagh, their contest pretty much had everything as they just edged-out Celtic by a 5-4 scoreline at Anderson’s Park in Coleraine.

Armagh had led 4-1 and 5-2 at stages before being made to sweat by their Scottish visitors.

When asked about the importance of two counties facing each other for the ultimate prize at Junior level, Chisholm replied: “County to county can be a difficult task.

"I’ve huge amount of respect for the County Armagh guys...we played them in a prep tournament and they gave us a tough task, so we will be expecting that again.

"A huge congratulations to them for getting to this stage. It’s huge for Northern Ireland football that our talent has got to this showpiece rather than the so-called big boys.”

The first-half will not live long in the memory but that all changed when Mulholland – who starred when Crusaders won the Minor section last year – blasted Antrim ahead.

They never looked back after that as Wright put the final seal on proceedings.

Chisholm added: “Probably nerves of the occasion for the lads because it means so much.

"It was a nervous first-half but the second-half we saw how good we can be as a group and the people sitting watching.

"It was what we expected it to be. It’s a semi-final and the boys care so much. It was a nervous start but we now go on Friday for the final.”

Chisholm is managing Antrim alongside David Downes and he spoke about how everyone connected with the squad had planned on reaching the final from the outset.

“We always have eyes on the final, every time,” he stressed.

"It’s tournament football and we never ever don’t go in and believe we can’t get to the final.

"It’s three years now that Gary and I have been involved and each year you want to get the best out of the boys and also get to the final.

"There’s never ever a doubt in our head that we are not able to do it.

"We aren’t naive enough to think it’s going to be a walk in the park but we are always confident in the squads that we produce that they are capable of reaching the final...and the guys have done it again today which is great.”

Will preparations change tonight due to the importance of the final at 3pm on Friday?

"Plans tonight, like we always do, we will go and look and see what matches we can watch,” Downes replied.

"The players like to watch the older guys and see what’s coming next for them.

"Rest, recovery, relax and see a match.”