It will be an angry Waringstown captain who heads to Dublin tomorrow with an under-strength team as they bid to extend their superb record in the Irish Senior Cup.

The Villagers haven’t lost an Irish Cup match before the final since 2013 but that is sure to be tested to the full when Lee Nelson leads out his side against Leinster at Rathmines.

With three players — James McCollum, Morgan Topping and Graham Hume — flying out with an Ireland Development side tomorrow to play a four-day game against Gloucestershire II in Bristol, starting on Monday, Nelson will have to bring in “the young guys” to make up his XI for their first Irish Cup match since they lost to Pembroke in the 2019 final.

Lee Nelson with the Irish Senior Cup

“It will be an opportunity for them and a big experience,” said Nelson.

“But my own view is that this should have been the one competition they should have kept the dates free (for clubs to be unaffected) but it hasn’t happened.

“I had it in my mind at the start of the season that for the League campaign we would be hampered by inter-pro call-ups but I didn’t suspect it would affect us in Irish Cup or Challenge Cup rounds. But there is no way round it, it’s disappointing but we just have to suck it up.

“I suppose you have to take it as a compliment, we must be doing something right. We stuck with Morgan Topping all last season, helped his progression, gave him chances this year and he takes them and then we lose him! That’s the way it works.”

To compound Nelson’s pain, he also expects Ireland international Gareth Delany to be in the Leinster side and while he doesn’t know a lot about the opposition — “we haven’t played them a whole lot” — the Waringstown skipper added: “I have never once gone to Dublin thinking it was going to be anything other than a tough game and given these circumstances we are faced with, it is going to make this one even tougher. So we are going to have to play very well to come away with a win.”

Merrion were the last team to beat Waringstown early in the competition, a quarter-final at The Lawn in 2013. Since then, they have lost a bowl-out to Railway Union the following year before five successive final appearances resulting in wins in 2015, ’16 and ’18.

The competition hasn’t been played since 2019 because of the pandemic.

First up for Waringstown this weekend is the Challenge Cup quarter-final at Lisburn, with only Kyle McCallan missing from a full-strength line-up — “he is carrying a bit of an injury so we will save him as we will need him on Sunday,” confirmed Nelson.

Instonians, who are away to Challenge Cup holders CIYMS today, can also cry foul tomorrow when they must face Balbriggan without young South Africans Cade Carmichael and Cian Robertson, who are also named in the squad flying to Bristol, but they are at least boosted by the much-delayed arrival of their overseas professional Daniel Rose.

The other Ulster clubs affected are Lisburn who will be without Josh Manley against Donemana while CIYMS must do without Graham Kennedy for their home tie with Newbuildings.