The winning Leinster side
Going into yesterdays last full round of the Russell Court D1 and D2 leagues for 2017 there was still a good chance of an extended season finale. For this two things had to happen. North County had to beat Leinster, thus setting up a league decider between Clontarf and The Hills. And secondly, Malahide had to win their last game against Balbriggan to force a play-off with the seventh ranked team in D1. In the event neither happened.
There is a certain relief when one comes to the end of the RCD1/RCD2 season [of course there are many other leagues still to be decided]. But it is nice to end with a tense afternoon as key games go down to the wire. As it turned out [with one exception] the outcomes were fairly predictable from early in the day - and certainly from the start of the second innings. The key matches were pretty one sided. In Rathmines, North County were 37/7 inside 10 overs. It took some heroics from Eddie Richardson [last out on 88] to get North County up to 167 but they never really recovered from that disastrous start and Leinster emerged victors and champions a few hours later with a comfortable 5 wicket win. Joe Carroll reserved his best bowling performance for the year [7/35] for the key match. It was also far and away the outstanding bowling performance by anyone in RCD1 in 2017 [there were 9 five wicket hauls in total]. Barring something extraordinary in the match between The Hills and Clontarf - this means that Joe Carroll is top of the D1 bowling averages.
But to return to the other key games. Phoenix had the expected easy win against Cork County, scoring 287/5, with runs for Reinhardt Strydom [108] and Richard Lawrence [[70]. They won by 181 runs.
The final RCD1 game was a little more competitive with YMCA batting first and after losing early wickets saw a 100 run partnership between Harry Tector [70] and Bobby Gamble [68], with a maiden senior half-century, get them to a reasonably safe harbour on 249. Four quick wickets, with James Parkinson doing most of the damage [4/21], and the match looked pretty much done and dusted. That Pembroke got as close as 40 runs was down to a fine century from Andrew Balbirnie [119] but in reality the result was never much in doubt from early on in the second innings.
The loss by Pembroke could have been important, and forced them into a play-off, if only Malahide had managed to win at home to Balbriggan. But Balbriggan had other ideas and despite a late order decline from about 170/3, still posted a good end of season score of 221. Malahide then proceeded to lose six wickets for 96 and were nine wickets down with over 90 runs required. A last wicket partnership of 87 brought Malahide ever so close - but in the end they fell short by six runs. The final wicket falling to a run out off a deflected straight drive by the bowler. There is no scorecard so I cannot bring you any details.
The last two games had no bearing on the outcome of the league. Terenure had a comprehensive win over North Kildare scoring 303/2, with Given Christian signing off in the league with 175 and Jeremy Bray [105] making another senior century - his 25th. North Kildare were bowled out for 166 with Christian taking 4/42.
The final game between Rush and Railway turned out to be really exciting with Railway squeezing home by one wicket. Set 236 to win by Rush, Railway looked in all sorts of trouble with half the side out for under 100. But Kevin O’Brien [114*] marshalled the tail and dragged them over the line. A tense finish with 25 needed from the last wicket went railway’s way.
So the leagues have come to an effective end. It has become something to reflect on over the next few weeks, especially by the various focus groups and committees looking at the regulations governing the two top leagues for 2018. The fact that we came down to the final weekend with three teams in contention for honours and two seeking to avoid the relegation play-off, is certainly a positive. The final outcome was close enough that four or five sides will look back on the season and contemplate the ‘what ifs’.
And of course congratulations to Leinster who came from the back of the pack to stage a remarkable late run to secure the title. Another team who have gone directly from promotion from D2 to D1 winners. No pressure on Merrion then for 2018.
A final thanks to the competition sponsors the Russell Court Hotel and good luck to Terenure and Malahide in the National Cup final today [weather permitting].