Strathroy Harps are in confident mood coming into the Mulhern Cup final against Enniskillen Town. Harps’ were on a run of eight consecutive victories before they lost out to a last gasp winner against Tummery last week, and manager Benny Boyle is looking for his side rediscover their winning form for the showpiece final.

“We have been performing well recently and hopefully that stands to us.,” said Boyle.

“The young fellas are full of running and if we can nullify the Town attack then we will have a good chance of winning it.

“Town have fallen off a wee bit, and if Tummery win on Thursday they won’t be able to win the league, so all their eyes will be on this one, the same as ourselves. They beat us 4-1 with two late goals near the start of the season and then we drew 3-3 with them when they scored with the last kick of the game a couple of weeks ago.

“They were both good battles and we know it will be a tough game.”

Strathroy have a recent history of success in the Mulhern Cup, winning on each of their last four appearances in the final. They followed up their 2010 triumph with three consecutive victories from 2015 to 2017, with the only final defeat in recent times coming at the hands of Town in 2008. They have also shown their cup prowess by reaching the semi final of the Junior Cup in each of the last two years, and Boyle admits the knockout competitions do seem to bring out the best in his squad.

“We seem to click in the cup and get up for it a lot more,” he acknowledged.

“It’s maybe our traditions in the cup, but our league performance can be a bit deceiving because we were four or five games behind everyone else. If those games had been played we might have been in around third place and it would maybe take a bit off the cup team talk.

“It had been hard to gel quickly with the all the young fellas we brought in, but we started off well. At the mid-point of the season we had a few lads missing and we were on the wrong end of a few results where we should have done better. Once your league challenge falls off then you are focused on cup football.”

Strathroy’s recent hectic league schedule saw them play four games in nine days, but they have had a break of a week before the Mulhern final, and Boyle has a full squad to choose from.

“We are at full strength,” he revealed.

“We had to rest a couple of lads against Tummery who had picked up a couple of bangs on Tuesday against Kesh and we had to be cautious, but everyone should be okay for the final.

“Everybody is fighting fit and looking forward to a good game, and hopefully we will be on the right side of the result.

“I just hope we can go out there and put on a performance. I expect a big turnout, and hopefully the big support we have will help us get over the line.”