Waringstown captain Greg Thompson relishing another battle with CIYMS as Villagers look to build on positive 2023 campaign

Between them, they’ve won four of the last seven league titles – two apiece – with Waringstown coming off the back of another Challenge Cup triumph and Irish Senior Cup final in 2023.

The Villagers, once again led by former Ireland international Greg Thompson, have recruited smartly over the winter months with Matthew Halliday and Northern Knights seamer Tom Mayes arriving at The Lawn, while club record run-scorer James Hall has returned to the club after three seasons at Woodvale.

Having won more top-flight league titles (31) than any other club, Waringstown have a storied history in this competition and Thompson is looking to hit the ground running against familiar foes.

"They always tend to be tight matches, even going back to the end of last season with the rearranged T20 final,” he said. “They are always tight games and usually end up having some sort of say on where the trophies go at the end of the season, but it's very early for that sort of talk this time around with it being the first match of the season. We're looking forward to it and are keen to get out and playing.

"We were really pleased with last season. The disappointment was the Irish Senior Cup final loss, but to be competing in another final and the business end of most competitions...the league got away from us a bit with Instonians being strong.

"We hope to be competitive on all fronts and have recruited well with Tom Mayes, Matty Halliday, who has fit in really well, a good pro that is arriving next week and Jimmy Hall returning...we don't know how much he'll play but he adds strength and depth to our squad."

With each team actively strengthening ahead of the new campaign, it’s set to be another competitive one with four different clubs celebrating silverware success in the last four seasons where a full season has been played.

Reigning champions Instonians have signed Ireland international Neil Rock, Lisburn pulled off a major coup by bringing in his teammate Mark Adair and CIYMS acquired Max Burton and Jacob Mulder.

The delays also mean teams are straight into a busy schedule with the LVS Twenty20 Cup also now underway and Thompson is embracing the challenge.

"It's a competitive league and every team in it has actively recruited this summer,” he added. “The league looks stronger and each team looks stronger...that's exciting and means that every game there will be something on the line to play for and going into each Saturday you don't know how the results will go, so it's something we're looking forward to.

"It's (the schedule) the sort of thing where you can easily build momentum by getting wins under your belt and that happened last year at the busy time - we had a lot of home cup draws and the weather was kind, which allowed us to get up and running and maintain momentum. We're hoping that will start early this year."