TARF END HILLS HOODOO THANKS TO ALL-ROUND DOMINANT PERFORMANCE

It was a hatchet job from Fionn Hand on The Hills top order that set the wheels in motion on a fantastic victory for Clontarf in this afternoon’s Skellig Six18 Senior Cup, as they saw off The Hills by 235 runs at Sydney Parade today. The victory ended a run of three consecutive losses in finals against the Skerries club for the Castle Avenue men, and exacted some level of revenge for their defeat against the same foes in last season's Alan Murray Cup Final.

Having won the toss, The Hills elected to bowl first and it wouldn’t have taken too long before they were potentially regretting that decision, as Clontarf’s opening pair, skipper Eoghan Delany and Ryan Karunakaran took forty off the first 10 overs, and proceeded to move their partnership beyond 50, beyond 100, and to 108 by which time both had passed their own personal half-centuries.

On and on the pair went, with the pair bringing the side past 150, and all the way to 204 with Karunakaran bringing up a fantastic century. Delany was the first of the pair dismissed, as he was caught by Murray Commins off the bowling of Nicolaj Laegsgaard for 88 in the 36^th over. Karunkaran was dismissed by The Hills skipper, stumped smartly by Mark Donegan for a superb 105 from just 109 balls, including 12 boundaries and two maximums.

Any respite The Hills felt they might get was quickly put to rest, as PJ Moor and David Delany put on 69 runs from just 43 balls for the third wicket, before Moor was dismissed for a swashbuckling 47 from just 25 balls, including no fewer than 5 sixes. David Delany then brought the side all the way to the 50^th over, before he was dismissed for an equally important 44 with the score finishing on 343/7 at the close of their innings.

The second innings was firmly the beginning of the Fionn Hand show, as he caught and bowled Murray Commins with his first delivery, before his second over saw the wickets of Bhavesh Lakhotia and Nicolaj Laegsgaard fall in consecutive deliveries, he then had Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin caught at mid-on to finish off his third over, as he had taken the first four wickets with just 36 runs on the board.

David Delany had toiled at the other end for no reward before he cleaned up Mark Donegan with a beauty from around the wicket, however Hand wasn’t going to allow Delany take his spotlight away, as he cleaned up Tómas Rooney-Murphy with his very next delivery. Hand’s spell finished with him having bowled 6 overs and taken 5/34.

There was some brief relief for the eventual runners-up, as Nathan Rooney counter-attacked for 26, however Ruan Cronje dismissed the skipper Andy Kavanagh, and Rooney in relatively quick succession to turn the knife on The Hills’ innings. Cillian McDonnell clean bowled Sean McNicholl with the score just having moved beyond 100, before Cian Nulty’s own spell of belligerence was ended by a kamikaze piece of running between himself and number 11 Jonathan Tall, meaning The Hills were all out for 108, and slumped to a 235 run loss.

The post-match presentation saw June O’Connell, CEO of Skellig Six18 present the Player of the Match award to Fionn Hand for his excellent spell, before presenting the Leinster Senior Cup for 2023 to winning captain of the Clontarf side Eoghan Delany.

SKELLIG SIX18 SENIOR CUP FINAL

Clontarf – 343/7, 50 overs (R Karunakaran 105, E Delany 88, PJ Moor 47, D Delany 44; N Laegsgaard 3/70, C Nulty 2/49)
beat
The Hills – 108 all out, 20.5 overs (N Rooney 26, C Nulty 23; F Hand 5/34, R Cronje 2/25)
by 235 runs