PLENTY OF EXCITEMENT IN SPORTS HUB SENIOR LEAGUE CUP

Neil Rock dominated against the Terenure attack today, as his 68 off 36 balls pushed Rush to a 27-run victory over the home side in Group A of the Sports Hub Leinster Senior League Cup on Saturday. Having lost opening partner Nathan McGuire to the second legal delivery of the innings, Rock and Jack McGee (45) proceeded to put on 100 for the second wicket.

Rock in particular showed his class with some beautiful straight sixes, as he cut and pulled to the boundary. Having hit four boundaries and three maximums, Rock was disappointed to bring up his half-century, off just 27 deliveries, with a single pushed down the ground. That exposed McGee and having taken a few chances in hitting five boundaries and two sixes of his own to be in sight of a half-century of his own, McGee sliced a Doyle delivery to third man where Daniel Wicks did the needful. Having built an excellent base and being 98/1 at the halfway mark, the loss of McGee sparked a mini collapse as none of the middle and lower order could get a start. Asher Abbasi with a huge six over mid-wicket, before being immediately stumped was the only one to reach double scores.

Indeed, the only other boundary in the final seven overs was Brandon Morris’ off the last ball when he pulled a full toss through mid-wicket. At half-time Rush had made 163/8 with Rock and McGee leading the way, Bhavic Tukrel took 3-22 and Zubair Khan 2-34 as Terenure fought back in the second half of the innings. To chase down the target Terenure would have liked Seamus Lynch to bat long, however he departed first ball of the second innings as Daniel Coffey bowled him comprehensively. Coffey only bowled the one over however, as he tried to catch a Mick Cotter shot on his follow through and injured his finger.

Cotter (21) counter-attacked aggressively and when Wicks (19) found a partner in Donal Lynch (36) it looked like Terenure might have a sniff. Enter Andrew Doheny who bowled Wicks, before Lynch cut a tempting delivery straight to Paddy Sheridan at point to leave the home side 90/4 with only seven overs remaining. Hayden Sharland (19) showed his awesome hitting power with another couple of massive sixes, but the run rate was just too far out of reach. In the end the innings petered out to 136/7 and a 27-run victory for Rush. This game had been billed as the battle between Nathan McGuire and Séamus Lynch, however it was another InterProvincial star in Neil Rock who stole the show.

Sports Hub Leinster Senior League Cup Group A

Terenure

Terenure v Rush, Saturday June 12

Rush 163/8 20 Overs (N Rock 68, J McGee 45; B Tukrel 3-22, Z Khan 2-34)

Terenure 136/7 20 Overs (Do Lynch 36, H Sharland 19; A Abbasi 3-20, A Doheny 3-37)

Rush won by 27 runs

Elsewhere in Group A, YMCA and Leinster met at Observatory Lane. Despite being bowled out for 99 off the last ball of the innings, Leinster ran out 26 run victors over YMCA. Devender Ranolia (28) was the only Leinster batter to pass 20, youngsters Cillian McDonnell (2-20) and Mikey O’Reilly (2-24) backing up Bobby Gamble (2-10) who led the bowling. It was former YM man Aviral Shukla who really did the damage in a miserly bowling performance from the Rathmines men. Shukla’s four overs saw three wickets fall for just eight runs and Leinster win a low-scoring encounter.

In Group B, Clontarf beat Malahide by 27 runs in The Village. The top three once again providing the bulk of the runs as Eoghan Delany (52*), Robert Forrest (33) and PJ Moor (30) excelled with the bat in the Clontarf total of 151/3. Malahide’s reply never got going as Mick Granger took 3-22 and David Delany 2-17, so despite a battling 31 from Fintan McAlister, Malahide were restricted to 124/9 and a 27-run victory for Clontarf. In Park Avenue, Railway Union defeated Cork County by 7-wickets as Kenny Carroll (35) passed 10,000 runs for the club. A phenomenal effort from the Railway stalwart. Carroll’s innings, alongside an unbeaten 52 from Hashir Sultan and 33 not out from Glenn Querl meant Railway overhauled Cork County’s 136 all out. Querl attempting to upstage Carroll’s big day taking 5-13 in County’s innings.

In Group C, North Kildare and Balbriggan met at The Maws where the visitors were 19-run victors. Greg Ford’s 44 was the mainstay of 139/6 for the Balbriggan side, while James Smith led the Kildare bowling with 2-20. Monil Patel smashed 60 off 50 to take North Kildare to 105-2 with four overs remaining but that was as good as it got for the home side. Campbell Webb-Davies 2-12 once again impressing with the ball for Balbriggan. At Sydney Parade, starts from five of the Pembroke top six saw them to a 6-wicket win over Merrion. Diarmuid Tucker (26) top-scored but it was the unbroken 5th wicket partnership of 45 between JJ Garth 25* and Ryan Hopkins 21* that settled any nerves. Merrion’s 134/8 was built on Michael Lewis (36) and John Anderson’s (34) third wicket partnership of 61.

In Group D The Hills beat Phoenix by 8 wickets Phoenix Park. Tyrone Kane played a lone hand of 82 off 40 in the Phoenix total of 137/6. Another fine innings from Levon Shields (42) and matching 37 not outs from Murray Commins and Mark Donegan gave The Hills a comfortable victory. While College Park saw the meeting of Dublin Universityand North County. After posting 97 all out, with Jonno Andrews (26) top-scoring, North County could not have expected to come away with the win. This was especially true when David Cosgrave (33) and Michael Hogan (28) broke the back of the chase. However, the old heads of John Mooney (3-18) and Eddie Richardson (2-19) saw a late collapse from the home side and County come away with one-run victory.