Clontarf 6 vs Dundalk 1 - Dundalk 1 start their Junior Cup season in confident form. For Clontarf 6 it has been a tough few weeks. Can they turn it around today? Tarf have played six matches, and lost them all, only passing 100 in an innings twice. Dundalk meanwhile have played four and won four. They met in Division 14 last season, with Dundalk winning by 173 runs.
Finglas 1 vs Laois 2 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
Merrion 2 vs Knockharley 1 - Knockharley return to action after their momentous win in Ballymena in the National Cup. They have a tough match on their hands today, although will also be bouyed by their win against Balbriggan 2 in the first round of The Tillain Cup on May 6th. Merrion are also unbeaten after winning against Clontarf 2. The two previous matches between the teams have both resulted in Merrion wins, the last one being a Merrion 4 wicket win in the Tillain Cup in 2020, Merrion chasing Knockharley's 95 for the loss of 6 wickets.
Civil Service 4 vs Knockharley 2 - Civil Service's second game this weekend in the Intermediate Cup. Knockharley have got off to a bad start, losing their first two games. The teams met in the Inter Cup on May 7th, their first games for 12 years. Aakash Kutty scored 65 as Service scored 134/4. That was just enough, as Muhammad Nawaz top scored with 31 but Knockharley finished 10 runs short.
Phoenix 2 vs Laois 1 - Railway Union 2 look to be the team to beat in Group D of the Tillain Cup, and the losers today will have a tough task to catch the Dublin 4 side. Laois have already lost to Railway, but did beat Phoenix on April 30th. Laois scored 164/8 with Mathew Auret top scoring with 43, before Phoenix collapsed to 55-7 before putting improving things to finish on 152/9. Usama Raees took 5-15 for Laois, his third 5 wicket haul for Laois 1. Only Armand Smit has more, with four instances.
Leinster 4 vs Pembroke 4 - Both teams beat Wicklow County in the first round of matches in the Inter Cup, and Leinster are playing the second game (and third) of the weekend, after playing Wicklow County yesterday. Pembroke haven't won in matches between the teams since May 2017. Chasing Leinster's 187, Pembroke were in all sorts of trouble at 129-8, before a partnership of 59 between Justin Doherty and Kieran Vulker saw Pembroke home. That was the second highest 9th wicket partnership for Pembroke 4, after 64 by Sugata Gupta and Ben Crowley against Bagenalstown in May 2016. The sides meet twice today in a double header.
North County 2 vs Civil Service 2 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
The Hills 4 vs North County 6 - North County 6 could do with actually completing a match in the Minor Cup, with both of their matches so far being rained off. The Hills beat Sandyford 3 in their one match. The Hills 4 are mid table in Division 16, with North County 6 down in 7th in Division 18, so The Hills are strong favourites today. Usama Shah is the only Hills 4 player to get to 100 runs so far this season with 108 runs at 27. For North County 6, run scoring has been a bot of a disaster this year. They have been bowled out for 21 and 20. No player has scored a total of 10 runs - let alone 100!
Malahide 4 vs Railway Union 4 - Malahide play their first game in the Intermediate Cup, against a Railway Union side (seemingly like all Railway Union sides this year) who won their first match, against Castleknock 2. Their three meetings in 2022 all went the way of Malahide, but they have already played in Division 10 this year, Railway winning by 98 runs. No player in that match scored a 50. No bowler took more than 3 wickets as Railway scored 172/10 against Malahide's 74/10. It's the 4th highest victory by runs for any Railway side against any Malahide side since 2011. The highest is Railway 3's 222 run win over Malahide 3 in June 2018.
North Kildare 4 vs Merrion 5 - North Kildare's first game of the day in the Whelan Cup, with Merrion playing Terenure 3 yesterday. Merrion 5 should have a small advantage - they are currently 6th in Division 11, with North Kildare being a league down, 7th in Division 12. No North Kildare 4 player has yet got to 100 runs for the season, but Sumit Savara and Shashank Bhartiya have both taken 7 wickets (at 16.86 and 14.29 respectively). It is a similar situation with Merrion 5 - no batters have got to 100 runs, but Chetan Suttraway has taken 7 wickets at 12.29.
Balbriggan 2 vs YMCA 3 - A YMCA team who have lost three games, travel to Balbriggan 2 who have won three matches. The sides met five times between 2017 and 2018, with YMCA winning four times, but the favourite tag has to be with Balbriggan now. Devansh Singh's 5-18 for YM in August 2018 is the best bowling return in the matches. with the highest score being Abdul Samad's 123* for Balbriggan in September 2017.
Rush 4 vs Sandyford 3 - Sandyford are flying high (second place) in Division 18 after three wins. They travel to face a Rush side who have lost twice alongside two rained off matches and sit in 5th place. In their meeting on May 14, Mohit Sharma and Viswanathan Umamaheswaran put on 106 for the first wicket, to win by 10 wickets. It was Sandyford 3's first 10 wicket win we have on record, and the team's highest 1st wicket partnership, breaking the previous record by the same batters of 100 against Castleknock 4 last year.
Swords 5 vs Clontarf 7 - These two play a double header today in the Minor 2 Cup, a competition that has been badly affected by the weather so far. Only one of the matches (a win for Clontarf against Mullingar 4 has escaped the rain). Clontarf won a nail biter when this was played in 2022. Alice Walsh scored 52 as Clontarf scored 136/4, before 61* from Tojo Thekkekuttu Joseph got Swords to within 3 runs. Close but no cigar.
Carlow 2 vs Greystones 3 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
North Kildare 2 vs Clontarf 3 - Not a great start to the league season for Clontarf 3 (0-2) but only a slightly better one for North Kildare (1-1). The teams have only met previously in the YMCA Salver, with Clontarf winning three of the four games, the last in July 2021. But this will be the first time they have met in the league. North Kildare have their second game of the weekend, after traveling to Wexford in the YMCA Salver yesterday.
Wicklow County 2 vs Malahide 6 - A Division 16 match that already has the look of a relegation decider. Malahide have got off to an awful start, losing their first five matches. Wicklow County have only played thrice, winning two and losing one, but that is enough to put them in 7th place (but with games in hand on those above). Thejas Sreedharanis the leading run scorer for Wicklow County 2 this season (with 183 runs at 61) and needs 38 runs to achieve 3000 runs for the club. He would be the second player to reach the milestone - the first was Nicky Fusco who has scored 3989 runs at 24.93.
Merrion 7 vs Carlow 3 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
Castleknock 4 vs Halverstown 2 - A mid table clash between teams who have won a few and lost a few this year. Halvserstown sit in 3rd (2-2) whilst Castleknock are back in 6th (1-3). These two played out a classic in Brannockstown at the end of April. Halverstown were bowled out for 82 before Castleknock collapsed to 64-8. The last two wickets eked out 19 runs for Castleknock to win by one wicket (with no bowler in the entire match taking more than two wickets). It was Castleknock 4's third ever one wicket win - one of which was in the exact same match against Halverstown 2 last year!
Tyrrelstown 2 vs Naas 1 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
Railway Union 3 vs Longford 1 - Division 6 is racing along at great speed, and we are over a quarter a way through the league program. Longford sit proudly on top of the table, with four wins, and Railway aren't too far behind, with a 3-2 record. Adnan Sarfraz has been leading run scorer for Longford with 208 runs at 52, with their leading wicket taker being Fadi Khan with 11 wickets at 13.73. For Railway, the top run scorer this season is Robert O'Brien with 122 runs at 30.5, and their leading wicket taker is Shashank Kumar with 8 wickets at 16.38
Dublin University 2 vs North Kildare 3 - The students play their second game of the weekend, against a North Kildare side who are win less so far with two rained off matches and a loss. Trinity beat North Kildre 2 the last tie they played them (in June 2019), but this will be their first fixture against the North Kildare 3rd string. That match saw Srikanth Venkata Subramanian take 6-36 for Dublin University 2, the third best bowling we have on record for the team, in 76 matches going back to 2011
Clondalkin 2 vs Finglas 2 - Two unbeaten teams play each other in Group B of the Junior Cup. That hides the fact that this league stage has only just started, with Clondalkin beating North Kildare 5, and Finglas having one match rained off. Two meetings in 2022 both went the way of Finglas. Finglas 2 are second in Division 13 (with a 2-1 record)
, a division above Clondalkin 2 who are 3-0 in Division 14.
Kilkenny 1 vs Mullingar 1 - Not too much activity yet in Group B of the Middle Cup, with the one result being Kilkenny's win over Lucan 1. There has only been one match between the cubs - between Mullingar 3 and Kilkenny 2 on May 14, which saw Mullingar 3 win by 6 wickets. Mullingar 1 are currently 4th in Division 6, with Kilkenny not too far behind in third place in Division 7. Kilkenny's Zeeshan Mumtaz is one to look out for. He is the highest run scorer in the Open Competitions, with scores of 84, 23, 16, 118 and 82 (as well as being 10th in the bowling list with 13 wickets at 11.46)
Greystones 4 vs Carlow 4 - The first weekend of games in Group B of the Minor 2 Cup, with Carlow playing their second game of the weekend today. Jared Allpass is Greystones 4's all time leading run scorer with 319 runs at 18.76, with their leading wicket taker also being Allpass with 24 wickets at 17.13.
Lucan 2 vs Gorey 1 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
YMCA 2 vs Adamstown 1 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
Mullingar 3 vs Swords 4 - Only two matches have been completed so far in Group B of the Minor Cup, but with four matches being played this weekend, the make up of the table should be clearer. Mullingar have yet to complete a game, and Swords beat Finglas on May 1. The Swords club have traveled to St Finian's College on four occasions, winning twice. That had never been Swords 4 though. Swords 3 won there in 2021 (Hemanth Vijaya Kumar taking 5-26 to set up a 10 wicket win), but it will be harder for Swords 4.
Terenure 4 vs Balbriggan 4 - Not too much to report on the Russell Court Trophy season so far - Terenure have yet to play a match, and Balbriggan have had their two attempts rained off. A cracking game last year is the entirety of the rivalry between the teams. Vaibhav Teotia scored 56* to get Terenure to 138/4, before Balbriggan fell 14 runs short. That was Teotia's first 50 for Terenure, and he added two more before 2022 was out.
Finglas 3 vs Clondalkin 3 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
Clontarf 6 vs Wexford Wanderers 2 - No preview, as previous matches this season involving at least one of these teams still to be processed.
Civil Service 5 vs Knockharley 3 - Knockharley sit on top of Group A of the Russell Court Trophy with two wins and a loss, whilst Civil Service have just a rained off match to their name. Only one previous meeting between the teams, and it was way back in 2011. Jeremy Jeffrey top scored for Civil Service with 13, before Pradeep Singh took 4-8, and Service collapsed to 54 all out. Knockharley knocked off the runs for the loss of one wicket. It remains Civil Service 5's third lowest innings total, the worst being 27 all out against Gorey in August 2021.
North County 4 vs Swords 2 - North County 4 are top of Group B of the Whelan Cup, but that is only by beating Sandyford 2 in their one match to beat the weather. Swords lost to Sandyford in their one match, giving a decent hint as to which way this one will go. However, both sides are sitting next to each other in the middle of Division 11. Top performers for Swords 2 this season are Bilson Kuruvilla with the bat with 100 runs at 20, and with the ball Prijin Joy Kurian with 8 wickets at 16. For North County, look out for Umar Khan (101 runs at 50.5) and Jake Devane with 6 wickets at 6.33.
Pembroke 2 vs Rush 2 - By the end of the weekend, Group C in the Tillain Cup should nearly be sorted. Both Rush and Pembroke need to have won both of their games over the weekend, and if not they are virtually (although not mathematically) out. The teams have never played before. That's not surprising - there has always been a big gap between their league placings, and this year is no exception - Rush are 5th in Division 5, Pembroke are 3rd in the third tier.
Phoenix 2 vs Railway Union 2 - Phoenix's second Tillain Cup match of the day, and a crucial one against 2nd XI Premier League leaders Railway Union 2. Johit Munjal is Phoenix 2's leading run scorer this season with 146 runs at 29.2 with Anish Rana being their leading wicket taker with 7 wickets at 8. For Railway, their successful start to the season has been spear headed by Devesh Sharma (179 runs at 44.75) and Ankit Bhave and Robert O'Brien (7 wickets at 9.86 and 9.71 respectively.)
The Hills 3 vs Phoenix 4 - Both sides play their second Middle Cup match of the weekend. The Hills last win in against Phoenix was in July 2016, when Sebastian Van Rooyen hit 103, Ryan Tobin 86 and Andrew Kavanagh 77 as The Hills ran up 339/6. Phoenix were then bowled out for 163 to lose by 176 runs. That remains the highest innings score by The Hills 3.
Merrion 3 vs Adamstown 2 - Early days in Group A of the YM Salver. Merrion lost to Leinster 3 and Adamstown beat The Hills 2 and the sides meet for the first time ever today. This should be no contest - Merrion are 4th in Division 4, whilst Adamstown are top of Division 7. But that win over The Hills shows what Adamstown are capable of.
Malahide 4 vs Clontarf 5 - Two teams playing their first match of the season in the Inter Cup. Last year saw the only previous match in the Intermediate Cup between these two. Clontarf collapsed to 33-6, before partially recovering to 95/9 thanks Shafqat Ayub's 36. Hamish Manks made it look easy though, scoring 53 as Malahide won by 8 wickets. Outside of senior cricket, only Brian Gilmore (4376 at 40.9) has scored more runs for Malahide (since 2011) than Manks (4071 at 32.06)
Leinster 2 vs Malahide 2 - If either of these two teams wins two games this weekend, they could well be home and dry, and qualified for the semi finals. The last match the teams played in the Tillain Cup was in 2018. Leinster ran up 172/7 from 20 overs, and whilst Malahide were always in the hunt, no one made a big score, and Leinster won by 24 runs.
North Kildare 4 vs Terenure 3 - North Kildare's second game of the day, and Terenure's second of the weekend. Before the weekend, each side in Group A of the Whelan Cup had only played one game. By the end of today, most will have played three, and there will be some shape on the league table. These two played in their first Whelan Cup match on April 30th. North Kildare dominated that game, scoring 149/3 with 57 for Behzad Majeed, before Terenure got to 102 all out from 17.1 overs - no one scored more than 18.
Adamstown 7 vs Ongar 2 - Adamstown 7 play their first match of the year in the cup bearing their name. Ongar beat Merrion 7 in their first match. Both teams have had a good start to their league seasons, but Adamstown are two divisions higher - 2nd in Division 17 against Ongar's top of Division 19. Adamstown's leading run scorer this season is Mohan Kumar Satyanarayana with 115 runs at 38.33. He is also their leading wicket taker with 6 wickets at 10.33. For Ongar 2, no batter has yet got to 100 runs, but Adithya Annam has an astonishing 13 wickets at 5.54. His 7-19 against Carlow 3 is the best bowling on record in Division 19 and for Ongar