Merrion and Pembroke have advanced to finals day of the Alan Murray T20, being held again this year in Pembroke's home ground on Sunday 9th August.
Merrion finished the group stage unbeaten with five wins. Top spot was effectively sealed when Merrion beat Pembroke by 1 run on July 7th in a low scoring, spin laden encounter. Spin was a dominant theme across the group, with the leading wicket takers, Paul Lawson and Jonno Cooke of Pembroke both using conditions well to head the chart. The leading semaer was Merrion's Dom Joyce in 5th place.
| # | Name | Club | Mts | Overs | Maid | RunsA | BBowl | Avg | Econ | SR | Wkt |
| 1 | P Lawson | Pemb | 5 | 19 | 1 | 99 | 4-10 | 7.62 | 5.21 | 8.77 | 13 |
| 2 | J Cook | Pemb | 5 | 17 | 3 | 71 | 4-0 | 6.45 | 4.06 | 9.55 | 11 |
| 3 | D Rhoda | Merr | 5 | 16 | 1 | 97 | 4-13 | 13.86 | 6.06 | 13.71 | 7 |
| 4 | Simranjit Singh | YMCA | 4 | 13 | 1 | 76 | 3-25 | 10.86 | 5.85 | 11.14 | 7 |
| 5 | Dom Joyce | Merr | 5 | 14 | - | 75 | 4-18 | 12.50 | 5.36 | 14.00 | 6 |
| 6 | D Murphy | Pemb | 5 | 16 | 1 | 73 | 2-11 | 12.17 | 4.56 | 16.00 | 6 |
| 7 | J Anderson | Merr | 4 | 15 | - | 78 | 2-18 | 15.60 | 5.20 | 18.00 | 5 |
| 8 | A Van der Merwe | YMCA | 5 | 9 | 1 | 67 | 2-2 | 13.40 | 7.18 | 11.20 | 5 |
| 9 | N Hunt | RU | 3 | 9 | - | 62 | 3-28 | 12.40 | 6.89 | 10.80 | 5 |
Economy is of course the byword in T20 cricket, and once again spinners were dominant. However, special mention must go to Pembroke's David Murphy who went for only 4.56 per over, one of only three seamers who went for less then six an over. (Qualification below is 10 overs)
| # | Name | Club | Overs | Maid | RunsA | BBowl | Avg | SR | Wkt | Econ |
| 1 | J Cook | Pemb | 17 | 3 | 71 | 4-0 | 6.45 | 9.55 | 11 | 4.06 |
| 2 | D Murphy | Pemb | 16 | 1 | 73 | 2-11 | 12.17 | 16.00 | 6 | 4.56 |
| 3 | R Jones | YMCA | 12 | 2 | 62 | 2-17 | 20.67 | 24.00 | 3 | 5.17 |
| 4 | J Anderson | Merr | 15 | - | 78 | 2-18 | 15.60 | 18.00 | 5 | 5.20 |
| 5 | P Lawson | Pemb | 19 | 1 | 99 | 4-10 | 7.62 | 8.77 | 13 | 5.21 |
| 6 | Dom Joyce | Merr | 14 | - | 75 | 4-18 | 12.50 | 14.00 | 6 | 5.36 |
| 7 | H Mac Donnell | Lein | 12 | - | 68 | 3-23 | 17.00 | 18.00 | 4 | 5.67 |
| 8 | Simranjit Singh | YMCA | 13 | 1 | 76 | 3-25 | 10.86 | 11.14 | 7 | 5.85 |
| 9 | D Rhoda | Merr | 16 | 1 | 97 | 4-13 | 13.86 | 13.71 | 7 | 6.06 |
| 10 | R Hopkins | Pemb | 15 | 1 | 98 | 2-17 | 49.00 | 45.00 | 2 | 6.53 |
| 11 | B Speake | Ter | 14 | - | 101 | 2-20 | 25.25 | 21.00 | 4 | 7.21 |
| 12 | J Carroll | Lein | 16 | - | 117 | 1-17 | 39.00 | 32.00 | 3 | 7.31 |
| 13 | C O'Gorman | Lein | 10 | - | 76 | 2-24 | 19.00 | 15.00 | 4 | 7.60 |
| 14 | D Singh | RU | 13 | - | 99 | 1-13 | 49.50 | 39.00 | 2 | 7.62 |
| 15 | Saad Ullah | RU | 12 | - | 92 | 1-26 | 46.00 | 36.00 | 2 | 7.67 |
| 16 | Padraic Flanagan | YMCA | 10 | - | 82 | 1-5 | 41.00 | 30.00 | 2 | 8.20 |
| 17 | James Smith | Ter | 12 | - | 101 | 1-28 | 50.50 | 36.00 | 2 | 8.42 |
T20 is of course a batsman's game, and it was another Pembroke player, Theo Lawson who was the leading scorer with 199 runs at 66.33. The only 100 of the group was from Leinster's Tom Ritchie, who hit 103 against Merrion, although the group winners still won with five overs to spare!
The rating column on the right hand side of the table is well worth a moment of consideration. Simply the sum of the batsman's strike rate (in runs per 100 balls) and his average, this measure gives the top three T20 batsmen on the south side of Dublin as David Langford-Smith, Simmi Singh and Dom Joyce - which is not a bad measure.
| # | Name | Club | Mts | Inn | NO | HS | 50 | 100 | 4s | 6s | Dks | Avg | SR | Runs | Rating |
| 1 | T Lawson | Pemb | 5 | 5 | 2 | 78* | 1 | - | 18 | 3 | - | 66.33 | 100.00 | 199 | 166.33 |
| 2 | R Hopkins | Pemb | 5 | 5 | 1 | 68 | 1 | - | 23 | 4 | - | 40.50 | 144.64 | 162 | 185.14 |
| 3 | J Carroll | Lein | 5 | 5 | 1 | 71 | 1 | - | 18 | 3 | - | 39.50 | 108.22 | 158 | 147.72 |
| 4 | T Ritchie | Lein | 5 | 5 | - | 103 | - | 1 | 13 | 8 | - | 30.60 | 133.04 | 153 | 163.64 |
| 5 | D Rhoda | Merr | 5 | 4 | 1 | 63* | 1 | - | 15 | 2 | - | 47.00 | 133.02 | 141 | 180.02 |
| 6 | Simranjit Singh | YMCA | 4 | 3 | 1 | 62* | 2 | - | 18 | 2 | - | 70.00 | 138.61 | 140 | 208.61 |
| 7 | B Speake | Ter | 4 | 4 | 1 | 85* | 1 | - | 12 | 8 | - | 45.33 | 122.52 | 136 | 167.85 |
| 8 | Dom Joyce | Merr | 5 | 4 | 1 | 64 | 1 | - | 11 | 6 | - | 44.67 | 144.09 | 134 | 188.76 |
| 9 | R Smith | Merr | 5 | 5 | - | 55 | 1 | - | 16 | 4 | - | 26.20 | 139.36 | 131 | 165.56 |
| 10 | D Langford-Smith | Merr | 3 | 3 | - | 88 | 1 | - | 14 | 6 | - | 40.00 | 214.29 | 120 | 254.29 |
| 11 | K Carroll | RU | 4 | 4 | 1 | 83* | 1 | - | 12 | 2 | - | 37.33 | 108.74 | 112 | 146.07 |
| 12 | J Anderson | Merr | 4 | 4 | 1 | 57 | 1 | - | 12 | 4 | - | 35.00 | 150.00 | 105 | 185.00 |
| 13 | J Paul O'Dwyer | Lein | 4 | 4 | - | 69 | 1 | - | 4 | 8 | - | 26.00 | 120.93 | 104 | 146.93 |
The qualifiers from the northern group are still unknown, although it will be two from Clontarf, The Hills and North County - all three sides being on 16 points with one match left to play. Clontarf are at the disadvantage of playing their last match first, taking on Malahide on Tuesday. Then on Thursday, The Hills travel to Rush, North County host Balbriggan.
All three of the top sides will be favourites for their matches, and hence net run rate will be crucial. Clontarf and The Hills are currently well ahead of North County, but it will not take much for that to change. As a rough example, if North County were to score 170 from their 20 overs, and keep Balbriggan to only 100, their net run rate would overtake Clontarf's exisiting mark of 1.473.
However, Clontarf are going to be looking to increase their NRR against Malahide, and much will change between now and the end of the group phase!