After a delay of a few days, the final three draws for the OCC's weekend cup competitions will be revealed this week, starting today with the Junior Cup. With the last three winners of the competition, Slieve Bloom 1, Knockharley 2 and Merrion 7 now all playing in different competitions, there will be opportunities for all this year.
As with the other cups, a spread of teams from three leagues (this time from Divisions 10, 11 and 12) those from the higher league will be favourites. Six of the teams in the draw come from Division 10, and we will concentrate on the fortunes of that sextet first.
Clontarf cup teams are always strong, and Clontarf 5 will travel to play North County 5 full of confidence. They have not had the best of things in the last three years of the Junior Cup, winning only two of their five matches, but against that, lead North County 5 3-1 in the head-to-head (with one tie).
Pedigree is not in abundance in the second of our ties either. Rush 3 haven't played Wexford Wanderers 2 recently, but neither of their Junior Cup records are much to write home about - Rush have lost their one previous match to Bagenalstown 2 in 2011, and Wexford have only won one from four! We're sitting on the fence for that one.
Pembroke 5 of Division 10 will travel to Kilbogget Park to take on Cabinteely of Division 11. Thrice have the teams met, with Pembroke winning a brace - enough to make them favourites in this first round match.
A local derby with plenty of spice takes place, as Castleknock 2 from one side of Castleknock will take on Phoenix 5 from the other. Phoenix have won a single Junior Cup match, against the one loss from one match in the competition that Castleknock have, but the eight place difference in their finishing league positions in 2013 makes the home team favourites.
YMCA 5 have somewhat surprisingly been put into Division 10 in their first year back in the leagues, and they travel to Division 11 team The Hills 4, who will fancy an upset. YMCA 4 convincingly beat The Hills 4 twice in 2011, but their 5th team will find it harder.
Civil Service 3 have alternated between the Intermediate and Junior Cups in recent years, although they couldn't be said to have that good a record in either. They face a tricky home match against Adamstown 2. The two teams met in the Whelan Cup last year, with Adamstown winning by 8 wickets. There may be another updet on the cards here.
The other two ties are as follows. Malahide 5 travel to play Halverstown 1, and have not won a cup game in three years, with two first round Inter Cup losses to their name. Halverstown's last cup win was nearly as long ago, being an Inter Cup win over YMCA 4 in 2011. This one could go either way.
Lucan 1 entertain Railway Union 6 in another hard one to call. Last year, they were the runners-up in Divisions 12 and 13 respectively, but it's another tight one. Railway have two of the three highest run scorers in the Junior Cup since records began - MT Raza is top with 222 at 74, and Paul Byrne has 202 runs at 40.40 - good enough for third place.