IT’S one down but three more cups still to defend and Premier League title to win for CIYMS after their exit from the Challenge Cup last week.

It was a first defeat in the competition since 2018 and a “bitterly disappointing” result for skipper John Matchett who took over this season from ‘Mr Challenge Cup’ himself Nigel Jones.

But the Belmont club haven’t  long to wait for a chance to book their place in another cup final, when they meet Instonians in the second semi-final of the T20 Cup on Sunday.

“We’ve been playing some good T20 cricket, we went four from four in the group stages and hopefully we can continue that on Sunday and push for another piece of silverware,” said Matchett, who admits he is enjoying the “different challenge” which captaincy entails but “it’s a nice new experience.”

Although the semi-finals are on neutral ground, in Comber – Waringstown meet Lisburn in the morning game – CI have the incentive of knowing the final is at Belmont, although, unlike previous years, is taking place three weeks later, to the surprise of Matchett.

“I thought Finals Day (when the final immediately followed the two semi-finals) worked well as an event, I wouldn’t have changed it myself so not sure what the rationale is”, he said.

“But looking forward to our game, Instonians are a very strong team, they played well and beat us in the league game so we owe them one”.

Ireland international Ross Adair will be the one to watch, as usual, but Matchett is quick to point out they are not a one-man team.

“When Ross comes off it makes everyone else’s life much easier and he’s a pleasure to watch but there are other guys, (Jason) van der Merwe is batting with a very similar approach to Ross and it’s been awesome to watch but any of our top five can come off and score at a pretty quick rate. T20 batting suits us to a tee.

First up for CI, tomorrow, is a match which is considered to be just as important by Matchett, a Premier League clash against Cliftonville, a team who may be destined for a relegation scrap this year but cannot be under-estimated.

They are a strong team with very good players. They’ve threatened in a lot of games and haven’t got over the line so it’s actually a very big game for us as we look to bounce back  after a really disappointing result last week. We’re still top of the tale and want to keep the momentum going in the league to push on that front as well.”