FIXTURE MAKING PROCESS - SEASON 2024
With the beginning of the 2024 season less than 2 months away, club's are informed that the fixture making process for games not centrally fixed by Cricket Leinster will begin from today.
For the avoidance of doubt, the fixtures which are centrally organised, include;
IBI Corporate Finance Premier League
IBI Corporate Finance Championship
Skellig Six18 Second XI Premier League
Division 4
Skellig Six18 Senior Cup
Skellig Six18 Senior 2 Cup
Sprint Coatings Division One
Sprint Coatings Senior Cup
LHK Insurance Alan Murray Cup
LHK Insurance Tillain Cup
LHK Insurance YMCA Salver
As it stands, the season is set to begin in earnest with a full round of Skellig Six18 Second XI Premier League fixtures on April 21st, whilst the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League & Championship campaigns will begin 6 days later on April 27th, both sides who competed in the top league last year begin life in the second tier away from home, with The Hills set to open their campaign with a visit to Civil Service, whilst in The Maws, North Kildare will host the Premier League's unfortunate 7th placed finishers in 2023, Railway Union, who suffered relegation off the back of a rain off against Phoenix in September.
Meanwhile in Castle Avenue, league holders YMCA are the visitors to Clontarf for the opening of their title defense. We have an all southside battle in Anglesea Road as Merrion host Leinster, whilst the Northside battle is in Malahide, where Balbriggan travel to begin the season. Lastly, the two newly promoted sides, Pembroke and Phoenix, face off in the Park.
The following day sees the District Cup get underway with it's first round of 50 over fixtures pitting Dublin University against competition holders Dublin City in College Park, whilst South Dublin & Midlands will visit The Vineyard to face last year's runners-up, Fingal.
The weekend of April 27th/28th also sees the first burst of games in the LHK Insurance Tillain Cup & YMCA Salver, as teams spanning from Skellig Six18 Second XI Premier League as far down as Division 6 begin their round-robin campaigns.
The May Bank Holiday weekend sees another full round of fixtures at the top level in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League & Championship, before the Skellig Six18 Senior 2 Cup gets underway on the Monday, May 6th in line with the second round of District Cup fixtures. The preliminary round of the Skellig Six18 Senior 2 Cup sees three ties taking place, with Malahide, Merrion and Terenure hosting North County, Knockharley & Civil Service respectively.
Just three days later the Sprint Coatings Division One season will burst into life, newly promoted Balbriggan will cut their teeth at Senior level against league holders Clontarf. There's another all-northside battle in Malahide, who host The Hills, whilst Merrion host Phoenix in a reverse from the fixture which ended last season. Finally we have a fixture between Pembroke and Leinster at Sydney Parade, in what will no doubt be a fascinating tie.
The second last competition to get underway is the Skellig Six18 Leinster Senior Cup, where the pick of the ties could well be the visit of Merrion to the park to take on Phoenix in the only all-PL tie in the round one draw. There's once again a visit to College Park for The Hills to face Dublin University, whilst the draw is bookended by an all-Championship tie between Civil Service and Terenure.
The District Cup's 20 over leg of it's competition will be taking place on Fridays and will kick off on May 23rd, whilst the Senior T20 competition, the LHK Insurance Alan Murray Cup, will kick off on June 8th in a return to it's more familiar mid-season slot.
All club fixture makers have been issued with a spreadsheet including all of the above fixtures, a list of all other fixture makers and a return spreadsheet which must be completed and returned to kevin.gallagher@cricketleinster.ie & shirley.doyle@cricketleinster.ie before March 8th.
For reference, clubs are encouraged to make Open Competitions and Women's Competitions fixtures at broadly the same time, as most Open games are played at weekends and most Women's games are played mid-week, there should not be clashes between the scheduling of the two.