One down and “a busy few weeks to come” is how Pembroke skipper Jack Tector sums up the season, ahead of the Leinster Senior Cup final against Leinster at Sydney Parade on Saturday.

Remarkably, the D4 side are still on course for a unique quintuplet with the Alan Murray Cup already in the clubhouse, which sets them up for an All-Ireland T20 Cup semi-final against Newbuildings on Sunday week. They are also in the Irish Senior Cup final against Civil Service North the following weekend and going into the post-split fixtures are sitting top of the Premier League.

And all this while being forced to play on many occasions without their Ireland internationals, but the good news is that Andrew Balbirnie, Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker are all available for Saturday’s cup final.

The downside is that the bowlers selected for the upcoming one-day international series against Afghanistan, Gavin Hoey and Byron McDonagh, must sit out the 50-over showpiece as Pembroke chase a hat-trick of successes.

If victorious, they not only become the first time to win three in a row since Clontarf in 2009 but will overtake the Castle Avenue side and Phoenix, the trio all currently locked as the most successful on 15 Cup wins apiece.

“With the final in Pembroke again, it’s a special day for the players and the club and playing in front of our supporters so excited to get going,” says Tector.

“We’ve met Leinster a couple of times already this season, including in the T20 final, they are a very strong side with a lot of match winners which we will be wary of. But we have won the cup the last two years so bring a lot of confidence into the final, and although we have lost Gavin and Byron there are plenty of guys who can step up.

“Daniel Murray is playing, he was unfortunate to miss out on the Under 19 World Cup because of injury but he has hit the ground running this year, so it’s a great opportunity for people like him to come into a cup final.

“It is something we talked about as a group at the start of the summer, accepting the challenge when the Irish guys are not around, and it is very satisfying that guys have stepped up at different times. I would say, though, that a lot of the guys who have come up from the Seconds are first team players in any other club. It’s just we have five or six Irish internationals that restricts their opportunity, but they have been really patient and are banging the door down and taking the opportunity when it comes. With the Euro league also happening these guys are going to get that opportunity at the business end of the season which is really exciting.”

Tector also has a special word for McDonagh who has been called up to an Ireland squad for the first time and must sacrifice his place in the team on Saturday.

“I’ve played with Byron for the last three years at Pembroke and he has been banging the door down with his skills, has come on leaps and bounds and is leading our attack this year alongside Addison (Sheriff). He has been phenomenal and his call-up is very well deserved. I hope he can make his debut in the series and everyone in Pembroke will be right behind him.”

The worry of having yet another international call-up is that Pembroke could be without up to five players for the Irish Cup final on August 16, the day after the last match of the Afghanistan series. But Tector is still grateful to the new Ireland head coach.

“Gary Wilson has been very pro-active in his communication. We appreciate that availability depends on workloads and who is involved in the series, so it will be a late call (for their Irish Cup final line-up),” said Tector.

As for their Senior Cup run, the captain admits they were ‘fortuitous” in the first-round game against Pheonix when rain ended an already reduced match with the home side needing only 44 from seven overs with seven wickets in hand. Pembroke won the replay at Sydney Parade, an 11-over game, by 10 wickets.

Tector picks up the story. “Against Balbriggan (in the quarter-final) they batted really well and (lost by just 38 runs, chasing 311) and against The Hills we were on the ropes with the bat but an unbelievable hundred by Gavin, his first for the club, gave us a platform.” From 104 for seven, they reached 245 and won by 13 runs.

By contrast, Leinster have sailed through the competition with three emphatic wins. The batting star has been Younas Ahmadzai who scored 105 not out in the first round against Merrion, to help Leinster chase down a target of 193 in 30 overs with more than 11 overs and seven wickets to spare.

In the quarter-final, he had scored 37 out of 43 from 22 balls, chasing 127, when the game with Railway Union was abandoned. They won the replay at Rathmines by 155 runs thanks to a century from Ireland international Gareth Delany.

In the semi-final against North County, Ahmadzai was at it, scoring 123 from 55 balls in Leinster’s mammoth 383 for six and victory here by 116 runs.

“It’s looking good at the moment,” says captain Bilal Azhar. Luke Horgan scored a hundred last weekend in Cork and Monil Patel 70 and we have a couple of players back for the final. Joey Carroll missed the last game and Tom O’Connor is back from injury and Gazza (Delany) is able to play.

Unfortunately, we are without Jai (Moondra, another Ireland bowler in the Afghanistan series) but myself, Mark Tonge and Tom are the pacers, with support from Joey and we have spinners Saqib (Bahadur), Gareth and TJ (Tom Johnson).

“On paper, Pembroke are a strong side but on the day you never know. We have good momentum in the Cup.”

It is 28 years since Leinster won the last of their 10 Senior Cups – they lost to YMCA in the 2016 final, when Jack Tector scored 75 for the winners – but it’s only three years since the Rathmines side won the Irish Cup beating Waringstown in the final at The Lawn. There are six survivors, led by Azhar, hoping the underdogs can have another great day out.

Teams

Leinster: B Azhar (capt), L Horgan T Johnson, M Patel, G Delany, Y Ahmadzai, J Carroll, R Cassidy, M Tonge, S Bahadur, T O’Connor

Pembroke: J Tector (capt), JJ Garth, T Tector, A Balbirnie, H Tector, L Tucker, A Sheriff, D Murray, J Prendergast, O Riley, P Lawson.