Holders Enniskillen Rangers will be bidding to make it back into the final of the Junior Cup when they take on Harryville Homers in Loughgall on Monday night.
Michael Kerr’s side are currently contesting a treble as they remain alive in all competitions but they could face their toughest test to date on Monday night against a Haryville side who won the competition for the three years prior to Rangers winning it last season.
Kerr took the opportunity to watch his semi-final opponents in their County Antrim Junior Shield last four encounter against Oliver Plunkett which they won 4-3 and he was impressed with what he saw.
“They are a very good side, very well organised and big, strong and very fit.
“They have a good gameplan and would remind me very much of Crusaders in that they go back to front quickly with wingers and midfielders coming off a strong striker, they just attack from all over,” said Kerr.
Despite them conceding three goal, the ‘Gers boss feels that the Ballymena outfit will be a hard side to breakdown.
“They conceded three goals against Oliver Plunkett but they were three really good goals and they won’t be easy to breakdown. However, we would feel that there are weaknesses there and hopefully we can exploit them,” he added.
One concern for the Rangers manager though is a lack of games that his side have played since Christmas.
“That is going to be our biggest issue, a lack of match practise. You can train as much as you want but you simply can’t beat playing matches and unfortunately we haven’t been due to the weather. It is just something that we are going to have to deal with. We’ve tried to keep our training matches as realistic as possible and keep the intensity very high.
“The players are putting a phenomenal effort in at training and it’s not easy when it’s just seems that it is training, training and more training. Their attitude though has been spot on, anything I’ve asked them to do they have done and they are pushing each other on hard,” he said.
And he has the belief that his side can prevail on the night and make it through to another final.
“Although we are the holders, we are probably the underdogs. However, I don’t read too much into who’s favourites or who is underdogs. It is two good teams going head to head and it is a game that we are looking forward to. We are going with the belief that we can go there and win the game, whether it is grinding it out with a 90th minute winner or controlling the game, we feel we can come through.
“We’ve had one defeat all year in all competitions, so we should be confident going into the game,” stated Kerr.
Rangers are likely to be without the Christopher Currie and Mark Cutler for the game but Kerr stresses that it’s an opportunity for others to come in and shine.
“We have a strong squad and if players are missing there is a chance for others to come in and grab a spot and I’m confident that whoever is called on will do a good job.”
A good crowd is expected at Lakeview Park for the last four clash and Kerr says that these are the games that they want to be involved in.
“We want to be playing in these games against good teams under lights with a big crowd. The way I look at it is there are about 250 teams who are out of the Junior Cup who would love to be in the position we are in now and we need to embrace the challenge.
“I’m confident the boys want let it pass them by, it is why they have trained so hard and they are looking forward to it,” he commented.
And he says  they have things they can take form both last year’s run to win the cup and this year’s run to date that will serve them well on Monday night.
“I think the games this year will stand to us more so than the ones last season. It has been a tougher run this season and games like the Willowbank and Aquinas will really stand to us on Monday night. As far as last year, the experience of what to expect with regards the semi-final and the neutral ground will stand to us because that was all new to us when we got to that stage last season.”