For Enniskillen Town manager Rory Judge, a cup meeting with Tummery is something that he is now well used to. 
Indeed, Judge recalls a win over the Dromore side back in 1994 that he feels set Town on their way to the first ever Irish Junior Cup title.
And since then the sides have met on numerous occasions in cup ties, including three Mulhern Cup finals which Town edged claiming two wins to Tummery’s one, with Judge admitting that they are a side he has a lot of respect for.
“We beat Tummery in extra time at Celtic Park on our way to winning our first Junior Cup back in 1994 and that set us up. They were a team back then who we couldn’t get a result against and ever since then we always seem to meet them in the cup. One year we even met them in the Junior and Mulhern and I know we have beaten them in a couple of finals but they have also beaten us in a final. There is no doubt that there is a healthy respect there and they are a team that never give up. We have had a couple of games against them when we have won four or five nil but you have never felt that the game was over because they just kept going,” he commented.
Town came out on top when the sides met in the 2012 and 2013 finals but Judge believes that his side will be the underdogs at Ferney Park on Friday night.
“I think it is going to be very difficult and if we were to come out on the right end of it then it would be a great achievement for us. We are under no illusions, it will be tough and I think going by league form we will go into the game as underdogs,” he added.
However, he feels that his side have saved their best for the cup this season, including a win over Junior Cup champions Enniskillen Rangers in the quarter-finals. And Judge stresses that there is no point in beating Rangers and not going on to finish the job.
“We have had our best performances in the cup albeit the first half against Mountjoy wasn’t too hot. We beat Rangers though who could potentially do a double and if you do that then you have to go on and finish it off. There is no point in putting them out and not going on and winning it.”
For Judge that win over Rangers was about getting everything right on the day but he knows that they face a different challenge this Friday night and he acknowledges that a former Town players provides a major threat to his side’s hopes of getting their hands on the cup.
“We said it before the Rangers game that we knew that we were capable of beating them but that all the parts had to come together. We had to work as hard off the ball as we did on it and we did that and it gave us a shot in the arm. Friday night though is a different challenge, arguably the likes of Rangers and other teams in the league don’t have a player of Cathal’s ability. He’s a player who could potentially be quite for extended periods in a game but could score a hat-trick in five minutes. We will have to try and keep a tight eye on him,” he added.
Beacom, brother Ciaran and Ryan Hanna are three former Town players who will line out for Tummery on Friday night but Judge says that won’t come into his thoughts prior to the game.
“We’ll not be concentrating on that at all. I suppose it could be a motivating factor but there will certainly be no mention of the three boys being former Town players, they have moved on and good luck to them,” said Judge.
If Beacom is a possible match winner for Tummery, Town have one of their own in the shape of Frank Wallace although Judge admits that they can’t rely just on their key attacker.
“Frank’s form has been very good of late and on his day there is not too many who came stop him. However, we have to back him up as well, we can’t rely just on Frank and in fairness we have some good footballers in the squad, we have others who are capable of stepping up and we have the makings of a very good team.”
And the Town boss will be reinforcing to his young players that they shouldn’t let the game pass them by.
“The message that I will be trying to get across, especially to the inexperienced players, is that you don’t have to be brilliant to have a positive influence but don’t let the game pass you by or be overawed by the occasion.
“It has been a few years since we won silverware and it would be great for the players if they could get a winners medal,” he added.