Mark Jones is hoping to save the best to last, as he targets the biggest win of his long football career in his final competitive game.

The Kesh striker has already earned himself a place in the Fermanagh and Western history books with his match-winning heroics for Kesh over the years, but with the 41-year-old announcing that Friday’s Mulhern Cup will be his final match before retirement, he is hoping he can cap his achievements with silverware.

“It’s been a long career without a cup!” joked the striker.

“I have played in a few semi-finals but I’ve only played in one Mulhern Cup final – the last one.

“The last time we won it, I wasn’t in the squad. I was at the club, but I had played for Newry City in a mid-Ulster cup final and at that time, that ruled you out for five years, along with the Junior Cup. I managed to miss out on both those finals with the club.

“We won the League Cup when we were in the Intermediate league, and I was Captain at the time. That is really the only trophy that I have won. We have won a few second divisions, but nothing else at the top level.”

Jones was part of the squad that missed out on Kesh’s only other recent appearance in the final, when they went down 3-0 to Tummery in 2019, but he reckons their current squad is better equipped to clinch the cup.

“The team we have now is definitely stronger than we were back then,” he said.

“We were up against a good Tummery team that night, and it was a tough game, but we will be hoping to go a step further on Friday night, all being well.

“There is a lot of strength in depth in the squad. Even when you look at the bench, you have as good as what you have in the starting eleven.

“It must be tough for Scott to pick a starting team every week. It’s definitely a good squad of players – they are very strong, and the boys work hard and train well.”

Enniskillen Rangers stand between Kesh and the Mulhern Cup this time around, and with little to choose between the teams all season, Jones is expecting it will come down to whichever side takes their chances in front of goal.

“It will be a tough game,” he admitted.

“It is always tough against Rangers, but it’s all about whoever turns up on the night. There is not much between us.

“You are not going to get many chances, and whatever you get you are going to have to take, but we know that anyway. That is the case in every game we go out to play.

“It’s up to us boys to put the ball in the back of the net, and if you don’t do that, you aren’t going to win games.”

Jones has a long history of finding the back of the net and winning games for his team, and he is hoping he gets the opportunity to repeat that feat one more time before he hangs up his boots.

“This will be my last game and it would be nice to go out with a win,” he admitted.

“This season has been a bit stop-start after I had a few injuries, but since Christmas I have had a right wee run in the team and I’m just glad to be involved.

“Hopefully I’ll get starting but there are other boys looking to take that place as well, so we will have to see how that goes.”