Waringstown's 'momentum' Premier League ambition plus Greg Thompson highlights 'beauty' of Irish Senior Cup on big weekend

By Patrick Van Dort
Published 29th Jun 2024, 10:13 BST
Waringstown's Greg Thompson is aiming for a big weekend across league and cup fronts. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)Waringstown's Greg Thompson is aiming for a big weekend across league and cup fronts. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)
Waringstown's Greg Thompson is aiming for a big weekend across league and cup fronts. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)
​Waringstown’s proud trophy tradition dictates big weekends as the backbone of any season – with the Villagers walking out over the next two days facing key tests across league and cup.

​Lisburn will visit The Lawn today sharing a 16-point tally of Premier League points alongside hosts Waringstown as the two clubs attempt to overhaul leaders Woodvale.

Then the focus will switch to a Dublin date tomorrow in search of Irish Senior Cup progress to the semi-finals at the expense of Merrion.

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The league clash is one Waringstown captain Greg Thompson considers significant even just six games into the NCU competition calendar.​

“No doubt Saturday will be a good game between two good teams and probably go a long way to impacting where the league might end up - obviously with Woodvale in that mix along with a couple of other teams,” he said. “They don't hand out any league titles in June but I think it would just be good to keep momentum going.

“We'd a good weekend last week with good wins in the league and T20 Cup so it would be nice to record another on Saturday with some good cricket.

“Every team finds home advantage to their advantage, home comforts and all that...but we tend to put in some good performances at home and good matches against Lisburn so I'm sure Saturday will be no different.”

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Given Waringstown’s rich record as the most successful club in Irish Senior Cup history, tomorrow presents a road trip with an all-too-familiar destination.

“That's the beauty of the Irish Senior Cup with trips down to Leinster and we obviously had a good result there a couple of weeks ago against Pembroke, just around the corner from Merrion,” said Thompson. “We've a really proud record in the Irish Senior Cup, I think this is my 11th season at Waringstown and we've played in six of the eight finals in that time, with three wins.

“Quite a few of the guys are similar in terms of experience and that's where we set our aims...to try and compete in Irish Senior Cup finals.

“We need to put in a big performance on Sunday away to Merrion but we're confident going in that if we can put in a good display we'll not be too far away.

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“There'll be a lot of familiar faces when we turn up on Sunday, a lot of matches and history between the teams.

"But at Waringstown these big games in the competition, thankfully, tend to bring out the best in our players.

“It's something we look forward to and build our season around, at times it can be difficult to fight on all fronts.

"But, unfortunately, we're out of the Challenge Cup so have the focus firmly set now on going as far as we can in the Irish Senior Cup, as deep as we can in the Premier League race and we've booked our spot in the NCU T20 Cup final.”

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PREMIER LEAGUE: (Saturday) – Carrickfergus v North Down, CIYMS v Instonians, Cliftonville Academy v CSNI, Muckamore v Woodvale, Waringstown v Lisburn.

IRISH SENIOR CUP: (Sunday) – Malahide v Instonians, CIYMS v Leinster, Merrion v Waringstown.

Related topics:Premier LeagueVillagersLisburn