Merrion proved the main winners in a heavy weekend programme of matches, posting two eight wicket victories in the RSA Leinster OC Division 1 and cementing a place in the RSA Irish Senior Cup Quarter Finals. Strong batting performances over the weekend saw off opponents including YMCA who are their nearest challenges in D1. There is now a 28 point gap at the top of the table. All top six batsmen got on the scoreboard with John Anderson leading the way with over 150 for once out.
Clontarf and The Hills will also be happy with their weekend efforts. Clontarf came out on top in a close encounter with Pembroke on Saturday and followed it up with a massive nine wicket win against Fox Lodge chasing down 255 [Bill Coghlan 157*]. The win against Pembroke puts Clontarf, who are in fourth place but with a match in hand, in a good position to mount a challenge for the league, especially if they can beat Merrion next week.
The Hills have also a match in hand but in their case it was a question of getting their season back on track after a poor start. Although they are still uncomfortably close to the relegation zone, Saturday’s win against North County will have steadied the nerves. The Hills look a long way back at the moment but if they can win their match in hand against Clontarf – they may still have the strength in depth to mount a late challenge.
The Hills supporters will also be happy about the way they fought back from a poor start to win against current NW Premier leaders Bready. For the win they can be grateful once again for a fighting effort by Cormac McLoughlin who made 78, including participating in a 70 run last wicket partnership, to make a defendable 192. Luke Clinton then stepped up to take five wickets and ensure victory.
There were mixed fortunes for Pembroke – a loss to Clontarf in the league was followed by a win in the ISC against Cork County. Terenure, only had one match to play but managed to get their first win of the season against Railway. Railway themselves held their nerve a won a bowl out against pre-competition favourites Warringstown in the ISC but overall will not have been happy with their drubbing by Merrion in a 20 over refix on Friday or their loss to Terenure on Saturday. Railway urgently need a few wins to get them out of trouble at the bottom end of the table.
The main losers of the weekend were North County and YMCA. The former saw their push for the league falter as they lost to The Hills with their batting again letting them down. With three wins they are far from out of contention for the league but greater consistency in batting is needed. For YMCA the weekend started well with an eight wicket win against Terenure on Friday, but there batting let them down against Merrion the following day and they could only muster a total of 120. This was well below par and although the match was much more hard fought than the ultimate result might suggest, it was still a heavy defeat. Unfortunately worse was to come as after travelling to the very north of the island they lost a bowl out to Coleraine in the ISC.
In Division 2 there were wins for Malahide, Rush and Leinster. The match between Pembroke II and Balbriggan awaits the submission of an official result card. It is looking like a tie. Phoenix were well beaten in the league by Malahide and are now uncomfortably close to the relegation zone. A loss to North Down also saw them exit the ISC. Rush secured an important win in another high scoring affair at Anglesea Rd [there have now been @1500 runs scored in the last three ‘senior’ matches on the ground – not much fun for the bowlers]. Rush made 253/5 with another good innings from Stephen Doheny [58] and a hard hitting 99* from Shahid Iqbal but Merrion got off to a good start after Kade Beasley made 55 and only needed someone to stay with the Irish women’s skipper Isobel Joyce [82] to reach the target. In the end Merrion fell 26 runs short.
In another high scoring contest in Rathmines. Leinster saw off the challenge of from Trinity. Leinster’s 281/7 [Hugh MacDonnell 90 and Pete Johnston 78] was too much for the students who lost by 73 runs. After a shaky start Leinster are now moving up the table and have put themselves in a position to challenge for promotion.
Finally, a quick mention of the wins for Laois and Dundrum who go through to the next round of the RSA National Cup. They may also be joined by Civil Service whose match against Limerick did not take place.