BRING ON THE BURNEY

They’ve had an iron grip on the trophy since 2010 and would be the first team to hold it five years in a row if they can claim victory.

Friends School Lisburn have also put their name on the winners’ list four years in a row between 1975 and 1978 but even one of those was shared with Cookstown.

The Academy will look to extend their current winning run at Lisnagarvey’s Comber Road on Wednesday (pass-back 2.30pm).

They reached this year’s final thanks to a stunning 6-1 win over Regent House in the semi-final.

In their semi-final, opponents Wallace saw off Friends, who they also beat in this season’s McCullough Cup final. Academy captain Johnny McKee, however, is in confident mood as they look to block Wallace’s bid for only their second ever
double.

“We’ve had two weeks to work hard so bring it on,” said the Ireland U21 star.

“We can’t wait. Supposedly they’ve been the best team in Ulster this year but we’ve had a few injuries.

“We’re not back to full strength and looking forward to the challenge. It’ll be a big challenge.

“They’ve got a full team of good players but I know for a certain fact that we’ll give 1oo% in the final.”

The Academy have this year been coached by former pupil and Ireland’s most capped player Eugene Magee, who knows his side will have to be on top form if they’re to come away with the trophy on Wednesday.

He said: “Hopefully we’ll be hitting peak form in the final.

“We watched Wallace’s semi-final win over Friends and they certainly looked like a great side.

“We’ll definitely have to be on form to beat them but we’re confident enough.

“If we train hard enough, we should put in a good performance.

“We have a lot of good players but we don’t play as a group of individuals. We play as a team.

“That’s something we’ve been enforcing since the start of the season and the lads have been adhering to that.”