Dara Armstrong passes major milestone
The first round of matches in Division 1 has seen one of the targets for the season set out in the Review/Preview achieved. The target was achieved by Dara Armstrong who took no time to reach his 500th dismissal as wicket keeper, taking the one victim he required in North County's match against Phoenix.
Dara became only the 3rd Leinster wicket keeper to reach 500 dismissals made up of 425 catches and 75 stumpings. He got to his target in 306 matches as wicket keeper. The only 2 others who have reached 500 dismissals previously were Harry Hill (Pembroke) and Colin Kavanagh (also Pembroke). Dara is third in terms of numbers of dismissals, as Colin has 508 and Harry reached 502.
Two other targets were also passed in the season's first weekend as Trent Johnston reached 5,000 runs in a career that started in 1995. He scored 63 against Pembroke in what was his 148th match and 134th innings.
During his career he has represented Carlisle, Leinster, Clontarf and Railway Union. His runs have come at an average of 45 and he is the 64th player to join the elite group in Leinster records who have scored at least 5,000 runs at an average of at least 22. In terms of averages he now sits at 4th in the list with Jeremy Bray, Andre Botha and Alf Masood ahead of him.
JP O'Dwyer reached 3,000 runs in a career that also started in 1995. He scored 35 against Malahide in what was his 177th Match and 158th innings. JP has represented Leinster. He started the season needing just 8 runs to reach this target and has scored his 3,000 runs at an average of 22.