Rivals Peel and St George’s go head-to-head for the first major silverware of the 2018-19 season at Ballafletcher on Boxing Day afternoon.

The pair will contest the 102nd Back Office Services Railway Cup final aiming to lay down a marker ahead of the rest of the campaign.

St George’s stranglehold over Manx football has weakened a little this season after the departure of several key personnel over the summer, yet to their credit the young squad still look well placed to challenge for major silverware.

Opponents Peel have made a very encouraging start to the term and head the Canada Life Premier League standings and Steve Falconer’s side will also have a big say on where the season’s trophies are headed.

The latter might start as marginal favourites having only lost once this far, but the return of a few of the Saints’ off-island based players, should make this truly a Christmas cracker.

The pair have only met once so far this campaign, Peel coming from behind to edge early November’s league encounter at Glencrutchery Road 2-3.

Since then though, poor weather has conspired to mean Geordies have only had one outing in the last month and that was the semi-final victory over St Mary’s at the start of December.

Even the club’s hopes of playing some of its youngsters in an under-18 league fixture were dashed when the Bowl, where Wednesday’s game was set to be played, was shut because of structural problems (see back page).

The plus side of the break has meant Chris Bass Sr’s squad has been able to shake off a few niggling injuries ahead of the club’s record-equaling ninth Railway Cup final in a row.

Sam Caine looks to have recovered fully from the knock he picked three weeks ago and he will most likely slot into a defence that will also include Johnny Myers who is set to make his 14th Railway Cup final appearance.

Fellow Geordies stalwart Chris Bass Jr should also be in contention after recovering from the injury he picked up in the semi-final win over St Mary’s.

Joe Quayle and Sid Batty have returned home for Christmas from their studies in America and the north west and will further bolster a midfield that should boast in-form youngsters Joel Ibanez and Jay Skelcher-Maxwell.

Calum Morrissey has been working hard to get fit and should feature in the squad to provide an alternative to the usual front pairing of Furo Davies and Ciaran McNulty.

The competition’s most successful side, Peel, should also be at near full strength with talisman Lee Gale back after a recent trip to New York, while centre-back Dominic McGreevy returned to action recently after injury.

Rhys Oates will look to continue his sparkling league form into this competition as will stalwart Kerron Christian who has shone in a variety of positions for the westerners this campaign. Indeed, with the squad well stocked, Falconer’s toughest task maybe whittling it down to a match-day 16.

If both teams hit their straps, this should a belter.