There may have been a small bit of scepticism when the decision was made to play the 2013 Senior 2 Cup as a 40 over competition. But that doubt was blown away with scores in 40 overs being far in excess of the 50 over scores in 2012, and the format proving a hit with players and spectators alike.
The 2013 competition finished with a magical final, with Railway Union 2 losing by the smallest possible margin, as Jitendra Singh and Zeeshan Khuda Buksh put on 32 for the last wicket, before only getting one from the last ball, with three needed.
The draw for this year's RSA Senior 2 Cup was made live on NEAR 90.3fm on Saturday, and last year's finalists have both been given tricky away draws in Phoenix Park.
Clontarf 2 of Division 3 will play Phoenix 2 of Division 4, and therefore will be favourites. In their only meeting in previous seasons, Clontarf won a Tillain Cup T20 match by 13 runs in 2011. Railway Union 2 will be playing their match a hundred yards away, taking on Civil Service 1. Although Civil Service are the "senior" team after being promoted to Division 3 last year, the recent record between these two is close - each side winning the home encounter in last year's two league matches.
There are two Division 2 sides in the draw. Merrion 2 received a bye to the last eight, whereas newly promoted Pembroke 2 host The Hills 2. Although no Hills team should be written off, Pembroke 2 have won the last three encounters between the two sides.
There will be an all Division 3 match when North County 2 host Laois 1 - a match that Laois will be fancying after winning both league matches in 2013. The other thre matches are all Division 3 vs Division 4 ties. Leinster 2 should be favourites over Mullingar 1, despite there being little recent activity between the two.
YMCA 2 will welcome Malahide 2 to Claremont Road, and will again be fancied after beating them twice in the league in 2013 - with Malahide ending the season relegated. The final match sees North Kildare 1, the 2013 Division 4 champions play Dundrum 1. Dundrum won on their last trip to Kilcock, and a close one is on the cards in this match.
It all kicks off on Sunday 5th June