Eleven Leinster teams are through to the second round of the Irish Senior Cup [6] and the National Cup [5]. This is one fewer than 2016 and with no less than five of the ISC teams and two of the NC teams travelling North, Leinster teams face a tougher task than for many years securing places in the quarter-finals.
Of course much depends on the weather. And the outlook in turn depends on where you look. Met Eireann offers a reasonably positive outlook - ‘Windy today with a mixture of sunny spells and blustery showers. The showers will be most frequent in northern and western counties. ‘ - but a look at AccuWeather and the day is parcelled into hourly periods where there is roughly a 50/50 chance of rain each hour [slightly worse as one moves North]. If matches are not played to a conclusion today there is a replay date [in the visiting team’s ground].
The details of the matches [the ISC start at 12.30 and the NC at 13.30] are as follows:
Lisburn v Balbriggan
CIYMS v YMCA
Bready v Pembroke
Merrion v Muckamore
North Down v Phoenix
Donemana v The Hills
Newbuildings v Knockharley
Malahide v Downpatrick
County Kerry v North Kildare
Rush v Killyclooney
Terenure v Limerick
In the ISC Leinster teams have avoided the current NW [Coleraine] and Northern [Waringstown] champions and also last year’s ISC semi-finalists Instonians. But in away ties to CIYMS, Donemana, Bready and North Down Dublin teams face some of the strongest sides in the North.
The only home match in the ISC is that between Merrion and Muckamore. The visitors, promoted to the Premier Division in the NCU this season, are currently lying third in the league. But they come up against a Merrion side that with one of the strongest batting line-up in the country - to which Ed Joyce is added for today’s game.
Balbriggan [the other D2 side from Leinster in the competition] will also be hopeful against a Lisburn side that is currently struggling at the bottom end of the Premier League in the NCU. It looks like an evenly matched context and again much will depend on Balbriggan taking forward their recent good form with the bat.
The remainder of the games, all away, present serious obstacles for the Leinster sides. North Down [v Phoenix] are currently topping the NCU league table and have only lost once this year. YMCA’s opponents [CIYMS] have had mixed fortunes this season but are still rated a very strong side. The Hills have the toughest of tasks v Donemana on their home turf. Donemana are unbeaten in the league. The other NW side, Bready, are currently mid-table and Pembroke will be hoping, on the back of their excellent win v North County yesterday and the inclusion of Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker - that they are in good shape to record an away win.
In the National Cup Malahide, Rush and Terenure have home draws. Rush are holders of the NC for the past two seasons and Malahide are a past winner. Despite losing yesterday both teams would have reasonable expectations of progression based on experience and past form. Downpatrick are currently mid-table in NCU Senior League [equivalent D2]. Killyclooney are currently top of the NW Championship [D2] with four wins out of four - so Rush are likely to have a tough battle on their hands.
Knockharley also have a difficult assignment against Newbuildings [lying second in the NW Championship]. It will also be interesting to see how County Kerry and Limerick fare against D2 sides in Leinster.
The teams that we have for today:
Pembroke: Lawson P [C], Balbirnie J, Cutler N, Garth JJ, Hoey B, Hogan D, Hopkins R, Lawson T, Little J, Tucker L, Balbirnie, A
Merrion: D Joyce, J Blakeney, M Lewis, John Anderson, J Brown, V Dhiman, E Joyce, M Neville, T Stanton, S Stanton, N Sharma.
Balbriggan: Duane Harper [C], Adrian Harper, Connor Fletcher, Adam Keefe, Trent McGrath, Ehtesham Ahmed, Farooq Nasr, Anthony Moor, Justin Kavanagh, Cian Nulty, Kashif Ali.
Phoenix: Nicolaas Pretorius [C/W], Reinhardt Strydom, Robin Kelly, Rory Anders, Adam Chester, Ari Karvelas, Tom Anders, Ian Anders, Ben White, Gordy Millar, Andy Brawlers
Rush: Lynal Jansen [C], Neil Rock (W), Saadat (Tipu) Gull, Sean Monks, Allan Eastwood, Shahid Iqbal, Patrick Sheridan, Aaron McGuire, Nathan McGuire, Joshua Murphy, Alex Neary
Malahide: A Reynolds [C], J Newland, F McAllister [W], C Riches, S Davey, K Reynolds, D O'Shea, N Boyne, D O'Halloran, S de Klerk, A Muntha