2014 Season Review - Division 10

How the league was won - Once the early season skirmishes had taken place, there were only three teams that really had a chance of wearing the Division 10 crown. Merrion 6 had a bit of a mixed season, although were still the best 6th team in the province by a country mile. They won four in a row across the middle of the season, but losing at least one game every month meant they could never quite challenge the top two. Railway Union 5 lost twice to Slieve Bloom early in the season, and never quite made up the ground they lost to the Offaly men. Their only other loss was to YMCA 5 on August 30, and that was the end to the challenge. That left Slieve Bloom clear at the top. The Bloom had a mid season wobble, losing four matches from five across the middle of the season, but they started and ended the season well, meaning they finished top with a 4% margin.

How dreams turned to nightmares -  As there were only three teams who we deemed to be battling out for the title, there must have been six who were fighting to avoid the other end of the table. Castleknock 2 and YMCA 5 were never reallky in danger. Castleknock won two from their first six, and then recovered somewhat. The collective Castleknock breath could only be exhaled when they won their last three matches of the season. YMCA 5 had a crucial win over runners-up Railway Union on August 30th - they also beat Slieve Bloom on Kilcormac early in the season. It emphasizes that they slipped up too many times against lower opposition! On the night of July 9th, Civil Service 3 were 1-6 and in all sorts of trouble. Like many other teams, their position strengthened their resolve, and they won the last four to avoid relegation. Rush 3 won the same number of games as Clontarf 5 (who finished below them), but managed to to tie with YM as well. Their win over CLontarf 5 on August 24th sealed Tarf's fate. That just leaves bottom placed Pembroke 5, who had a tough season, beating only YMCA, Clontarf and Civil Service


Heroes with the willow - Unsurprisingly for a team that won the league, Slieve Bloom players doninate the top of the batting stats for Division 10. Five players in the league passed 300 runs, with Slieve Blooms's Jameel Ahmad (423 runs at 42.3) and Peter Auret (336 at 33.6) coming 1st and 3rd. Sherjeel Illyas of Castleknock was between them, coming second with 399 runs at 28.5. On the all time Division 10 run scoring chart (2011 to present), Anto Coates of Ringcommons has been replaced at the top by Sean Smith of Pembroke, who now has 813 runs at 23.91


Hell for leather - Slieve Bloom also did well in the bowling stakes, although it was Railway Union's Nick Jagoe who came top . Nick was one of four bowlers who took 20 wickets, with 23 at 12.17. Shazad Mirza of Slieve Bloom was second with 22 at 14.77, with his teammate Qadeer Khan third with 21 wickets at 15.43. The fourth bowler to pass 20 wickets requires a quick comment! Merrion 6ths' Kartik Neela took an incredible 20 wickets at an average of 4.9 - but only played for Merrion 5 once (and took 3-16 then!). A familiar face now leads the all time Division 10 wicket taking charts. Sean Smith of Pembroke was already top of the bowling charts, and has increased his tally, now having 49 wickets at 19.61


Days to remember - It is too easy to look at hundreds scored in Rush as being easier than anywhere else. Over the last four seasons, a century has been scored on average every 3.67 matches in Rush, as against every 7.92 matches in the province as a whole. That is too lazy an assumption to make though, It may be slightly easier to score a hundred in Rush - but that still doesn't mean it is easy! 1022 non-Rush players have played in Rush since the start of 2011, and only 20 of them raised the bat for passing the magical 100. Which is a long way of saying congratulations to Ciaran Kenny of Railway Union who scored his first Open Comps century for Railway - 141* as Railway chased down Rush's 238-3 for the loss of 5 wickets (and with two balls to spare). The next highest score for Railway was 29.


Stat you may have missed - Apologies to the other clubs, but another stat involving Railway - although this time not in quite so positive a light! Railway hosted Slieve Bloom on April 19th, and were set a total of 137 to win. Paul Byrne and Eoghan Grehan strode to the crease. Two hours later, Byrne was still there, although his 10 team mates had failed to give him much support. Paul finished on 56* becoming the only Division 10 player to carry his bat this year. The scores of the other batsmen were 4, 8, 6, 4, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0 and 0 as Bloom won by 46 runs.

Batting (Qualification - 100 runs)

Bowling (Qualification - 10 wickets)