TOMÁS ROONEY-MURPHY – 2021 SOLOMONS CUP WINNER!

The winner of the 2021 Solomons Cup – for the leading fielder in the Premier League and Cup – has been confirmed as The Hills captain, Tomás Rooney-Murphy. His 9 catches in 14 games were enough to put him top of the table and secure him the award.

Rooney-Murphy is the first player from The Hills to get his hands on the award since Mike Baumgart in 2013, on that occasion he shared the gong with Jack Tector, Albert van der Merwe and Paul Lawson. It’s only the second occasion on which a player from The Hills has won the award outright, with Barry Archer being the other player to claim the trophy with 13 catches in the 2005 season.

There were a cluster of players in behind Rooney-Murphy in the catching stakes this year, the Pembroke pair of 2018 and 2019 winner Fiachra Tucker and 2013 winner Paul Lawson were joined on 8 catches each by Merrion pair Dom Joyce and Max Sorenson.

The record for the most catches in winning the Solomons Cup belongs to twice-winner Fiachra Tucker of Pembroke, who claimed the award with 20 catches in the 2018 season. That is the only occasion on which the 20 catch barrier has been broken in the winning of this award.

2021 is a notable year in being the first time that single figures was enough to win the trophy outright, the only other time that 9 catches saw someone etch their name on the cup, was when it was shared in 2012 by the Railway Union pair of Kenny Carroll and Pat Collins. Whilst last year, even though the winning number was just 8 catches, even then the award was shared by Phoenix’s Adam Chester and Terenure’s Séamus Lynch.

Congratulations to Tomás from all at Cricket Leinster on being crowned the winner of the Solomons Cup for the 2021 season!