The Mariners have won this competition on seven occasions and Kevin Lynch's squad will be keen to progress to the later stages of the competition which will include representative teams from Everton, Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers.

Cammell Laird include ex-Mariners Shaun Tuck, Nicky Young and Tim Bigland in their squad as they attempt to win the competition for the first time.

The Cammell Laird Story

In 1889 a team from the Upper Boilers Shop of Laird Brothers played in Birkenhead Park under the name of Grange Football Club. However, it was not until 1907 that the Cammell Laird Institute AFC was established. the Club played on the old Prenton Park ground losing their first match to their hosts Tranmere Rovers in a pre-season friendly on 2nd September 1907.

Lairds joined the West Cheshire League Division 1 in 1907-08. In 1909, Lairds moved to Park Road North, Birkenhead Park where they stayed until 1921. At the end of their first season in the Park, Lairds finished bottom but retained their Division 1 status after being successful with their re-election speech.

During the close-season, the Club was re-organised and put on a firmer footing. It soldiered on in mid table until the outbreak of World War 1 in August 1914, when many clubs disbanded and the League decided to amalgamate the two divisions. Resignations continued and, as the end of the season drew near, the interest was reduced to a minimum, so much so that the surviving clubs failed to complete their fixtures because of the war effort, and as a consequence no medals were awarded. With the ending of the war, government orders for ships dried up consequently football was taken in-house with a departmental league of about 12 teams (affiliated to the Cheshire and Wirral Associations) and a representative team selected to compete in certain of the cup competitions of the Wirral Football Association.

The club played their cup-ties on their old Park Road North ground with league games being played at Bebington Oval. The new Cammell Laird Departmental League commenced on September 20th, 1919 and in April 1921 the renamed Cammell Laird Sports Club won the Shipley Cup. In the summer of 1922, the team moved to St Peters Road, playing in the Birkenhead League 2nd Division and changed their name to Kirklands F.C. (The name of the original clubhouse). The club won the Wirral Minor 'B' Cup in 1924 and the Regent Cup in 1927.

At the commencement of the Second World War in 1939 the club disbanded and the ground was badly damaged. In the summer of 1946, the club was re-formed as Cammell Laird AFC joining the Birkenhead & Wirral Football League where it remained until 1948 when the club was elected to Division 2 of West Cheshire League. In a 35 year post war period Lairds won the West Cheshire League 19 times, and have reached the Quarter-Finals (1994-95) and the Semi Finals (2005-06) of the FA Vase. 'The Lairds' made history by becoming the first team to win the championship of the second and first divisions of the North West Counties League in succession in their first two seasons in that league, scoring over 250 league goals in the process.

2006-07 saw Lairds make their bow in the UniBond Northern Premier League First Division South and they were desperately unlucky not to gain promotion at the first time of asking after losing in the play off final. Lairds finally gained promotion in 2007-8 when second place was awarded the one automatic promotion place. Unfortunately they managed just the one season at the higher level.