The Mulhern Cup final will pitch the top two Fermanagh and Western teams against each other, when Lisbellaw United and Strathroy Harps come face to face at Ferney Park on Friday night. Harps are chasing back to back Mulhern Cups, while Lisbellaw are hoping to complete a league and cup double after sealing the first division title last week.
Lisbellaw have won four league titles in the past seven years, but in contrast the Mulhern Cup has proved elusive and has not adorned their trophy cabinet since 1983, thirty three years ago. It is even longer since they completed a league and cup double, with their last double winning season coming in 1980. Manager Andy Reilly is hopeful this can be the year they right that wrong. 
“It’s been too long since we competed in a Mulhern cup final and we don’t intend on just making up the numbers,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to facing Strathroy on Friday and it should be a great game. They’re on a good run of late and put a terrific run together towards the end of the league. They won the double last year and we will give them all the respect they deserve but it’s us who are looking for the double this time round and will be giving it our very best shot.”
If Lisbellaw are to prevail they will have to combat the potent attacking threat posed by Harps, with Reilly well aware of the problems they can pose. “Darren Teague obviously is the main threat and looks on form again while McCaffrey and Quinn have been scoring regularly,” said Andy. “Benny Boyle is a real danger from set pieces too so we must stay switched on all the time. We have a full bill of health bar Raymie Carroll who’s probably fifty fifty at minute. We’ll give him every chance though and if he did make it it’d be a huge boost for us. It would be great to cap off a brilliant year for the club with all our other teams having successful campaigns too.”
Strathroy are the holders of the cup and are not keen to relinquish their grip on the trophy, but Harps’ Kevin Sloan knows they will have to be at the top of their game if they are to claim another honour. “I’m sure there won’t be much in it, and it will probably come down to who wants it the most on the night,” he said. “It’s first against second in the league and it will be a good game but we are in a good run of form and are on a 12 game unbeaten run. We had a wee blip along the way this season when we had a few suspension and quite a few injuries but we have a full squad for Friday night. We have prepared properly and we will just have to give our all on the night.”
After an unprecedented run of success for the club in recent seasons, Kevin admits the success of this current campaign hangs on the result of this one game. “If we don’t win the cup it will have been a disappointing season,” he acknowledged. “Things didn’t go our way in the league, even though we were only two points away in the end. Ultimately Lisbellaw were better and they deserved it but we will be looking for a wee bit of revenge I suppose. Back to back cups would be nice, and I think we have a good bit of experience in the dressing room as well and that should stand us in good stead. Everyone has been in this position before and there are a few in there with junior medals as well so we are fairly well equipped that way. Confidence is high and it is a good time for us to be playing this game.”