The final of the 2016 Minor 2 Cup will take place in Greystones - Druids Glen on August 21, with it being guaranteed that there will be a new name on the trophy, and a pretty good chance that the winners will have never won a Cricket Leinster cup before!
The first fact is not as surprising as it sounds. The Minor 2 Cup has only been existence since 2014, and the 2014 winners Leinster 7, and last year's winners, Carlow 1 have both been promoted to higher things. The second nugget of information is a bombshell though. Of the 19 teams in the draw, only Rush 4 (Minor Cup winners in 2002 and 2010) and Clontarf 6 (Minor Cup winners in 6) have experienced the delight of lifting a trophy on cup final day. Will another team get to experience that thrill, or will Rush triumph again, or Clontarf break a 25 year drought?
Greystones have two chances of reaching a home final with both the 3rd and 4th teams entered in the Minor Cup. Whilst being drawn at the top of the draw, the 4ths have much the harder task, and will be underdogs, playing the winner of the preliminary round match between Phoenix 6 and Mullingar 3. Those two are two of the three highest ranked teams in the competition, taking their place in Division 15 this year - Mullingar after being relegated from Division 14 last year. Mullingar 3 have beaten Phoenix 6 in both their two previous meetings , and have to be favourites to both beat Phoenix and Greystones, and to advance to the quarter finals.
North Kildare 4 were the one team to beat the all conquering Carlow 1 last year, and they have to be confident of beating Carlow 2, with the Carlow team entering competitive cricket for the first time. Civil Service 5 have received a bye through to the quarter finals, where they will play the winner of the tie between AIB 1 and Evening Herald Taverners 1 in the final match in the top of the draw - and AIB will start as strong favourites. They got to the semi finals last year, and were runners up in 2014. Although they haven't played either Evening Herald, or their possible 1st round opponents, they will be a tough team to beat. The match against Dundalk 2 will be a cracker, with Dundalk expected to finish around the top of Division 15, up against a Division 16 side with a good cup pedigree (assuming they beat the Evening Herald!). Dundalk will be at home and may sneak it.
As well as being one of the two sides in the competition to have won any cup before, Clontarf 6 have a decent record in recent years, being runner up last year, and semi finalists in 2013. That should be enough to see them home against Adamstown 5, who are still finding their feet in only their second year of existence.
Balbriggan 4 are another side entering Cricket Leinster's competitions for the first time this year, but they have a tough task, with a preliminary match against Greystones 3. The "senior" Greystones team have an awful cup record, but have beaten Balbriggan 3 three times in their last five meetings, and should cruise past Balbriggan 4. There they will meet Merrion 8, who despite not winning a cup game in the last three seasons, have a good 2-0 record over Greystones 3. We'll give Greystones the benefit of the doubt, and chalk them in to reach the quarter finals.
Rush 4 are the one team with any sort of cup pedigree, with those two triumphs in the last 15 years. That won't count for too much come June, but the Division 15 side should have enough to overcome Division 16 Bagenalstown 3, who are entering their second year, and lost their opening cup match in 2015. Tyrrelstown are still waiting for their ground in Dublin 15 to be completed, and continue to just enter cup competitions until that is the case. They got to the semi final last year, and ahve received a bye straight to the quarter final this year, where in our estimations they will meet Rush.
After that who knows? The likely semi finalists look to be Rush 4, Mullingar 3, Clontarf 6 and Dundalk 2, and they all look fairly well matched. We'll plump for Rush 4 to win the title for the first time, and their third cup win this century.