A magnificent seven is the target for Waringstown when they take on Leinster today in the  Irish Cup final at The Lawn.

The most successful club in the competition have won the Cup on six occasions – three of them in five successive finals from 2015 – and they are favourites today, with home advantage, to confirm their recent dominance as the best club team in Ireland.

The stats are on their side as well. Waringstown have not lost an Irish Cup game at The Lawn since 2013 and that includes seeing off three Dublin sides on route to their ninth final. Captain Greg Thompson admits it has been an advantage.

“We have been fortunate to have home draws, we always knew the final would be at The Lawn and that was a huge carrot,” he says. “The 2015 final when we beat Merrion at The Lawn still sits up there as one or my very best days at the club and the chance to replicate that has been a huge motivating factor. And it would be nice to add number seven and push ourselves further in front of the other clubs.”

The final comes just eight days after Waringstown put the first of a possible four trophies in the cabinet this season, with their Challenge Cup victory over Carrickfergus and the same 11 will take the field today, meaning today’s game has come just too soon for Lee Nelson.

“Lee was available, he played a 20-over game for the Seconds last Sunday but that was his first match back after a long time and it would be too much of a risk to play him in an Irish Cup final,” Thompson confirmed. “But it’s great to have him available for the run-in to the league and we will benefit from him being around the squad.”

Even without Nelson, who has played in six Irish Cup finals, the Waringstown line-up can still boast a total of 19 appearances, with Thompson set to equal Nelson’s club record.

“We have proven you can lean on experience and against Clontarf (in the semi-final) we needed it to get across the line,” says the skipper.

“Johnny Bushe stepped away from the squad for a few years but he is back, physically fitter and I still maintain he is the best wicket-keeper in the league standing up, no one compares to him and with four or five spinners in the team that is crucial.

“James Mitchell has missed a lot of the season but he has played in four finals, twice club player of the year, the NCU bowler of the year and is a big game performer.

But we also have exciting young talent, Ben Snell, who bowled well in the Challenge Cup final and took eight wickets on Thursday for the Emerging Knights in the Future Series game against Lightning Bolts, has had a really good season and is showing lots of potential.”

Leinster, by contrast, have not been in an Irish Cup final since 2009 when they defeated Donemana, but they can welcome back from injury Ireland international Gareth Delany, who has been given the go-ahead by  Cricket Ireland to play in the game, six days before the three-match T20I series against India.

“I think they have reached the final in his absence,” says Thompson, he certainly missed the quarter-final and semi-final (and also their impressive second round victory against holders CIYMS) but we know all about them having lost to them last year, and deservedly so, although we were without James McCollum, Graham Hume and Morgan Topping to an Ireland A game.

 A virtual full-strength Waringstown side have the perfect chance of revenge on the biggest possible stage.