With the Leinster Lightning Championship win in College Park secured, attention now turns to the weekend club matches and the QFs of the RSA Leinster Senior Cup [Saturday] and the first round [8th overall] of the second cycle of matches in the D1 league. There is also another round in D2, which will not complete the first cycle of matches until next weekend.
The two all D1 ties in the Senior Cup see North County take on The Hills and Pembroke play the first of four matches against Merrion in eight days. League form would seem to dictate wins for North County and Merrion but the cup format can add an extra dimension, especially if the team batting first can make good use of the full 60 overs. A long day in the field on a hot afternoon [assuming that is the case] can test any side. George Cockcroft in his cult novel of the early 1970s, The Diceman, had his psychiatrist ‘hero’ Luke Rheinhart base his diagnoses on the toss of a coin. I am tempted to do the same here but in the end one has to go with league form.
Much the same can be said for the Malahide v Phoenix match. Last weekend Phoenix had an important win against Leinster and will be keen to take the confidence gained into the cup. But Malahide have swept everything before them this season and with McAllister and Strydom in great nick with the bat are strong favourites.
The final game is an intriguing tie between Clontarf and Cork County. Clontarf come off a heavy defeat to Merrion last weekend but should still be too strong for Cork, especially with home advantage. But if Cork can post a large total, something they are well capable of, then they could put Clontarf under pressure and pull off a surprise.
In the league the following day there are matches between Railway U and The Hills, North County and YMCA, Terenure and Clontarf and Merrion and Pembroke.
With Railway and The Hills currently standing at 6th and 7th in the Table this match is absolutely vital and while it won’t decide anything, enormous additional pressure will be heaped on the loser. It is difficult to understand why The Hills are struggling so badly this year and one expects that as some point players will hit form and win enough games to move them to safety. But they cannot wait too much longer. Railway on the other hand may not have the same strength in depth but have match winners in O’Brien, Carroll and Collins. With home advantage I expect the match winners to take it this time.
YMCA may have hoped for an easier match to commence the second half of the league season. North County at The Inch is always a tricky assignment and this could prove to be a very close contest. If North County can post a good score – they have the bowling attack to cause an upset.
Merrion take on Pembroke in Anglesea Road. At the start of the season there was a very low scoring and tense affair and it was only thanks to a fighting rear-guard action led by skipper Dom Joyce that Merrion managed a win. With the two teams playing each other four times in quick succession one might expect Merrion to win perhaps three out of four but players missing on both sides may alter the odds.
The final match has Terenure take on Clontarf. If Clontarf are to have any hope of being in the shake up at the end of the season they need to win this match and win it well. On paper, form and with home advantage they go into the match hot favourites. Terenure face a different challenge. They need to win at least three and more probably four matches to survive. If they are targeting particular games they can probably afford to lose this one [and YMCA / Merrion] but then they have to win everything else. But they must put in a good performance to boost morale and pick up the bonus points that they will still need even if they secure enough wins by the end of the season.
Turning to Division II, there are three games on Sunday, Leinster v Malahide, Rush v Cork County and Balbriggan v Phoenix. In the first game it is difficult to see the Leinster bowling standing up to the likely onslaught from a very strong Malahide batting line-up where they have five bats averaging over 40. Malahide to make it 7 out of 7.
Rush have put together a couple of good wins and are sitting pretty comfortably mid-table. They are capable of putting together a good score, batting first or chasing. But Cork could put their bowling under pressure. Cork should be strong enough to win and maintain pressure on Malahide before their head-to-head next weekend.
In the final match Balbriggan take on Phoenix. Phoenix were much relieved to get a win last week and finally move above the two 2nd XI teams in the league. But they are not out of danger and are still well adrift of Balbriggan who are in 6th place [nine team league]. Not much to choose between the teams – perhaps go with home advantage.
Teams:
Terenure: S Moreton, D Langford-Smith, C Dickeson, C Mullen, J Smith, C Morgan, T Williamson, D Lynch, R Jones, K Brennan, U Jehangir
Leinster: With G Delany away on school trip and A Ward out of country the team is C Mallon, H MacDonnel, J Johnston, J Carroll, JP O’Dwyer, J Kerrison, C O’Gorman, B Azhar, R Kenealy, D Coad, R Forrest
Merrion: For cup match. D Joyce, B Thompson, T Kane, B Ackland, D Watkins, J Short, C Allwright, S Morrissey, T Stanton, A n Other. D Poder for S Morrissey for Sunday.
Malahide: C Riches, A Reynolds, R Strydum, F McAllister, J Govan, D Arnold, G Deans, P Chase, C Shoebridge, A Morris, P Saville. I Guerin in for J Govan for Sunday.
YMCA – unchanged from last week, A van der Merve, P J Moor, A Bailey, P Flanagan, B Gamble, T Fisher, S Singh, J Tector, Y Ali Shah, R Chawla, S McAuley.
Railway have skipper K O’Brien with the rest of the team, C Divney, K Carroll, P Collins, P Conliffe, R Gaur, G Lambert, S Shamim, M Tariq, T Townsend, S Ullah