Paul Pritchard has won senior cups as a player in Ulster and Leinster and two finals ago he coached Instonians to the coveted trophy.

On Saturday, Pritchard is back at Ravenhill with Instonians as they meet one of his old clubs – the holders - Ballynahinch, in this year’s Senior Cup final.

The backrow was injured in May 2024 and couldn’t play across the decider but went through a range of emotions as Instonians prevailed after extra-time against Queen’s.

“To be honest, I probably didn’t think I’d be here as a player again,” said Pritchard. “And it’s great...winning that cup is still my favourite win.

placeholder image — Paul Pritchard on the charge for Instonians. (Photo by Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press)

“I'm just sort of personally for myself thrilled to be fit enough and able to play.

“But the big thing is that we, the club, getting to these Senior Cup finals as often as we can and, hopefully, we can win another one here...it's something that we're all looking forward to.

“It’s something that anyone who's been involved in the Senior Cup final always remembers.

“Some of our lads think of it as the biggest competition in the province and I think Ulster do the cup very well.

“When I won it (Leinster Senior Cup) with Old Belvedere it was a double-header with an All Ireland League game...it wasn’t much of an occasion.

"Whereas this is always really good occasion and it's something that you'll remember...it's a big final, it's in Ravenhill and it's more than winning a play-off.”

It’s a second cup final in three campaigns for Inst, who have also won four consecutive promotions going from junior rugby to the second tier of the All Ireland League.

But, despite their success, Pritchard knows Hinch start the final as favourites.

“Hinch have been up there for a long time, I don't know how many finals they've been in the last few years but I certainly know over maybe the last 10 years they've probably been in more finals than they haven't,” he said. “And they're obviously doing a great job.

"They just had the Bateman final, which they were very close in.

“So, you know, they've been the top team in Ulster for a long time now and it's something that you have lots of respect for.

“We just want to keep improving, we understand that we're the underdogs going into this game.

“Hinch have been the top team for a long time for a reason, it's up to us to challenge them and fight as hard as we can then at the weekend.”

Instonians go into the game with three consecutive wins - Hinch have lost their last three.

“We've sort of have to keep that momentum going as well as we can, or we try to find that momentum," said Pritchard. “You know that the two-week break there can make it a wee bit more difficult.”

There is an extra buzz around Hinch as the seconds will contest the Junior Cup before the main event.

“We are really excited...maybe not the best date in the world for everybody else on December 27 but for us we have two sides there in cup finals one after the other,” said Ballynahinch head coach Adam Craig. “So we are pretty excited about going into it.

“It is a trophy that we certainly like to win and we have done well in it the last few years.

"Hopefully we can get over the line again this year.”

Hinch lost the Bateman Cup final late on against Clontarf.

“I can’t fault the lads’ effort, they played really well,” said Craig. “We got a bit ill-disciplined in the second half and allowed them a few entries which we can’t allow Inst...we went well in the Bateman and, hopefully, we can go one further in the Senior Cup.

“There are a few things that we need to work on to make sure we do get over the line and, hopefully, after Christmas we’ll come better stronger and better and get at that top three.

“Instonians are going well...we still have a bit of a lingering heartache from when they came up to our place and beat us a few years ago, so we’ll certainly use that as motivation and we’ll certainly look to go out and test them.”

Ards and Randalstown will compete for Junior Shield glory.