So far, our analyses of Leinster club's preformance over the 21st century has revealed clubs going up and down, through cycles of boom and bust, but with a continuing improvement. Pembroke's recent history shows that gradual improvement, but with a rather startling depression from 2005-2010. This article will look at the reasons behind that bust, and the ensuing improvement to become the 5th ranked team on the island at the end of the 2016 season.
Whilst not being a dominant team in Leinster in the late 1990s, Pembroke were still one of the best around. Between 1997 and 2002, the team won the 1997 and 1999 Leinster Senior Cups, the 1997 League Cup and the Senior/Division 1 title in 2002. Only Merrion won more titles (a total of seven including five Alan Murrays). The 2002 team was built around a solid core of internationals and interprovincial players, Peter Davy, Alan Eastwood, Brían O Rourke and Johnny Byrne, with Richard Hastie, Peter Byrne, Trevor Dagg, Joe Byrne and Emmet Whaley providing a bit more than just support - all backed up by overseas player Malcolm Stuurman.
But as we have seen time and time again, once successful teams fall apart the results can be distinctly messy! In Pembroe's case it wasn't even cause by players leaving or retiring. The 2003 team was missing Stuurman, but still had all others mentioned - and finished bottom of Division 1, earning relegation in the process. Johnny Byrne and Trevor Dagg had gone by 2004 as Pembroke narrowly failed to get promoted back to Division 1. By 2005 O Rourke was also missing, and a team that was one of the best around was now struggling.
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Pembroke's low - rating 38.670 - ranking - 52nd - date September 15 2007 - after 145 run loss to Munster Reds
The next couple of years were tough, as Pembroke slowly slipped down Division 2/Section B. Fourth in 2005 and fifth in 2006 then led to the low of the low in 2007. By the end of the season. Pembroke had finished bottom of Section B, failing to win a league game all season. The scorecard for the final league game can be found here via Cricket Europe, but crucially the seeds of recovery had alreay been sown.
An end of season trip to Cork to play Munster Reds is perhaps not the best way to judge a team, and not surprisingly Pembroke succumbed - mainly to the fast bowling talents of Morne Bauer who took 5-13. Several names stand out. Peter Byrne was the one player remaining from the title winning teams at the begining of the decade. Two young players were starting out on the road to international cricket, with a sixteen year old Andrew Balbirnie and a fifteen year old Barry McCarthy playing (McCarthy being much more successul on this occasion than Balbirnie!). And two brothers had moved from Clontarf to start the Pembroke revival, Theo and Paul Lawson.
The rest of the match is not worth dwelling upon. The season ended with a 145 run defeat to the Munster team, and it was undoubtedly a sullen drive back to Dublin. But from then on, it was up and up.
Pembroke's high - rating 119.160 - ranking - 5th - date August 30 2016 - after 1 run win over Phoenix
After a couple of false dawns (Pembroke yo-yo'd between Divisions 1 and 2 from 2008 to 2012), the Sydney Parade team had a trio of fourth place finishes between 2013 and 2015. Last season saw Pembroke's best year yet, as they finished second in the league to Clontarf 1, their best league finish since their 2002 title.
Although the cups didn't bring too much success, there was very much the feeling that Pembroke are here to stay (for the next few years anyway!) and will be a force in the 2017 season. The match that took them to their highest rating was perhaps not the crushing victory that the occasion deserved, but a nail-biting one run win over Phoenix.
Of the 2007 team, only the two Lawsons remained, with most of the rest of the team filled with youthful talent. Josh Little and Lorcan Tucker have already received Irish honours, with most of the others in the team having represented Leinster or Ireland at some level. Fiachra and Diarmuid Tucker joined their older brother, David Murphy provides a fearsome opening attack with Little. Jack Balbirnie is following in his brother's footsteps from the 2007 team, Danny Hogan is finally fulfilling his undoubted talent, and Ryan Hopkins, one of the older players in the team at only 25, provides with bat and ball. Finally, Pembroke had one of the top overseas players to have graced Leinster cricket in recent years, Daniel Solway.
The match in question saw Pembroke "struggle" to 197-9, with only Theo Lawson passing 30 with a 63 ball 37. At 160-3, Phoenix were cruising towards the win, but a combination of Lawson's guile and Murphy and Lawson's pace saw Phoenix self destruct to finish one run short.
The question for Pembroke is whether they can now push on to bring silverware to Sydney Parade, and to become the number one team on the island in 2017?