During the 1970s one team dominated Leinster cricket, and in particular the Leinster Senior Cup. In 1973 Phoenix had a comfortable seven wicket win over Pembroke in Observatory Lane. That day the Phoenix team included seven players who took part in a further five finals, winning them all, through to 1979.
Only 16 players took the field for Phoenix in the six finals over the period 1973 - 1979.
| DR Pigot | 6 |
| JS Mitchell | 6 |
| GF Murphy | 6 |
| RF Cox | 6 |
| DB Ensor | 6 |
| M Halliday | 6 |
| BC Freer | 6 |
| S Oakes | 5 |
| R Young | 5 |
| G Black | 4 |
| EJ Mullan | 3 |
| R Tilson | 3 |
| TV Neill | 1 |
| A Johnson | 1 |
| J Graveson | 1 |
| E Jones | 1 |
The teams on the receiving end of this string of wins were Leinster [twice], Pembroke, Merrion, Old Belvedere and Carlisle.
There were a number of notable performances. No one who was there will forget Rod Young’s remarkable spell of 12 overs, taking three wickets for no runs, in Anglesea Road in 1975 against Leinster. This to set up a comfortable five wicket win. The following year Jack Short scored 142 for Leinster but it wasn’t enough as David Pigot and Gerry Murphy laid the foundations for a close two wicket win [coming off the last ball of the match] with a 100 run opening partnership.
In 1977 it was Old Belvedere who were on the receiving end of six wicket loss as an all round performance by Gordon Black saw his team home with an undefeated 48 in a low scoring game. The following year, on their home ground in the Park, Phoenix defeated Merrion by 111 runs. A century by David Pigot was the outstanding performance on the day. And finally in 1979 when a century by Gerry Murphy was the basis for a massive 295 for 7 wickets against Carlisle and a 98 run win.
In all over the 7 year period 1973 to 1979 out of 20 Trophies available Phoenix won 11 (6 Cups, 3 Senior Leagues and 2 Wiggins Teape Leagues). They won the Treble in 1975 (the first opportunity for any Club to do so). They also were runners up in 5 competitions and defeated in one Cup Semi Final.
To relive the final with reports from the Irish Times and full scorecards go to Archives > Articles.