Enniskillen Rangers player-manager Michael Kerr is hoping to the bring the Junior Cup back down the road with him this Monday as the ‘Gers look to complete back to back titles when they take on Greenisland at the National Stadium at Windsor Park.
The Ball Range based club secured the Blue Riband of Junior football last year with an emphatic victory over Hill Street and Kerr knows that it would be a massive achievement for the club if they were to go on and retain the crown.
“Sometimes it is easy to get carried away but I’m trying not to and trying to keep the boys feet firmly on the ground and focused on the game. Obviously though to go and win back to back Junior Cups would be amazing. 
“If I’m honest, it only really sunk in about six months after last year’s win the achievement we had in winning the cup. There were about 230 teams in it and we went on to win it, it was some achievement, and to go on and run again to the final is brilliant and it is all credit to the players and also to the likes of Tony Roofe and Stephen McFrederick who have been helping me out. I would be delighted for everybody at the club if we could go on and retain it. It would be a fantastic day if we could go the National Stadium and bring that trophy back home again,” said Kerr.
And if they are going to win it then they will have done it the hard way with Kerr acknowledging that the run to the final has been much tougher this season than last.
“We have beaten a lot of quality sides to get to the final this year, it’s been much tougher than the run we had last year. We beat Willowbank and Harryville Homers this year, and they contested the Junior Shield final recently in Belfast in which there was 196 teams entered so it shows the quality of the teams we have beaten,” he said.
Kerr admits that there has been a slightly different approach to the competition this year from a preparation point of view.
“Last year we always had a lot of detail on the opposition but this year it was a case of maybe finding small bits about who we were playing and manipulating it to help us but it has nearly all been about ourselves this year. 
“I would say that 90 per cent of our preparation and our focus has been on us and what we can do well because I feel that there is so much more in the lads even than they have shown so far.”
The ‘Gers boss also believes that the experience of having played in the final last year will stand to his players on Monday.
“Being in the final last year and seeing what the day entails, be that the changing rooms with everything that is in them, to walking out of the tunnel on to the pitch in the stadium, that will all stand to the boys. 
“They now know what the occasion is about, there is nothing new there. Yes, we have brought a few new lads in since then but for 80 per cent of the players they will know what to expect, and we will let the new boys know what to expect as best we can,” he added.
It will be a new opponent in this year’s final with Greenisland looking to get their hands on the cup and they will provide a stern test of Rangers credentials. 
Kerr watched Monday’s opponents squeeze past Ahoghill Thistle on penalties in the semis but while he spotted some things that his side can hopefully exploit, he isn’t reading too much into the game as a whole.
“I watched them in the semi-final and, yes, I can take small bits out of it but you see it all the time, semi-finals are games that nobody wants to lose, you just want to get through to the final so you can’t take too much out of that game. 
“I’ve seen a few things though that will help me in terms of me picking my team and what way we are going to approach them. There are certain things and certain areas that I think we can definitely target. They are quite a big side through the spine of the team which we will have to deal with,” he said. 
And any suggestion that his side’s hunger will have waned after winning the competition last year is batted away by the manager.
“There is even more hunger there now and you can see it in them. Last season they won their first major trophy for Rangers and it has given them a taste for it and they want more. They know that feeling of what it is like to win and they want it again.”
So what will it take to ensure that Rangers leave Windsor Park with the Junior Cup still in their grasp?
“It is going to take a bit of everything. We need to show our quality and we need the players to step up. We will be looking to play our game and there is a lot of hard work in that both on the ball and off it. 
“It is going to take every man to be on his game and giving it everything, which I have no doubt that they will, and we don’t care though how it goes, what type of game it is or how long it takes, we just want to take that cup back down the road again with us,” concluded the player manager.