Three refixed matches on Friday night makes it a very busy weekend for some clubs. YMCA, Merrion and Railway turn out on all three days. A schedule no doubt eased for the first two with their eight wicket wins against Terenure and Railway respectively last night. The third refix of the evening saw Rush secure an invaluable double point victory over Trinity.
The main business of the weekend starts today with a full list of league matches with the second rounds of the RSA Irish and National Cups following tomorrow. All weather permitting.
Interest in the National Cup for Leinster clubs is sadly lessened by their collective inability to win ‘bowl outs’. As a result it is just Mullingar and Dundrum [who play each other] Laois and Civil Service that keep the Leinster flag flying. There is perhaps a greater sense of travelling into the unknown when it comes to the National Cup than for any other competition and how Laois will fare against Ballyspallen defies any serious efforts at prediction. On the other hand Civil Service, with home advantage, will be hopeful that they can progress against Limerick Raiders. Dundrum and Mullingar both compete in D4 and while the former are higher in the table this is only by reason of a higher number of matches played. Home advantage for Mullingar may be decisive.
In the RSA Irish Senior Cup the seven Leinster clubs compete against clubs from the other Unions [counting Cork as an external opponent in this case]. So there are no safe bets on Leinster clubs progressing but high hopes that they can take up the majority of places in the quarter finals. Without doubt the most difficult task faces Railway who must travel to Warringstown who currently hold the position of highest ranked club in Ireland and favourite for the trophy.
The two highest ranked Leinster clubs, Merrion and YMCA take on Ardmore and Coleraine respectively. Coleraine, current NW Champions, have two wins out of three in the NW [Long's Supervalu] Premier League this year and will be formidable opponents on their home ground. Ardmore are a much strengthened side who are seeking to establish themselves in the Premier Division in the NW and have a number of players familiar to cricketers in Dublin - Decker Curry, Andrew Riddles and Adrian Murphy. The match is in Anglesea Road, where the new pavilion is nearly finished.
Foxlodge are the third NW team in action against Leinster opponents, in this case Clontarf. The long journey to the NW can be disconcerting but Clontarf should be too strong for a Foxlodge team that have lost four out of four so far this season.
The final NW v Leinster clash is between The Hills and Bready where the NW team have to make the journey south. Bready are currently top of the Premier League with 100% record. The Hills on the other hand have had a moderate start to their season. They will need not only for their batting to fire, as it did against Merrion last weekend, but more penetration in their bowling. Players coming back into the team after injury and absence will help.
The remaining two matches see North Down take on Phoenix in Comber and Pembroke play Cork County in Sydney Parade. North County are in good form and would on paper at least be the favourites over a Phoenix team that has been very reliant on Tom and Rory Anders so far this season to get them runs and wickets. The final game should be an intriguing contest between a much improved Cork County side, yet to lose this season, and a gritty Pembroke team that are capable on their day of beating anyone. Again home advantage may be decisive.
The pick of the D1 league matches in Leinster is undoubtedly the top-of-the-table clash between YMCA and Merrion at Claremount Road. Neither side has lost yet this season so, weather permitting, we will have a clear leader of the table by tonight. Merrion go into this match seeking to emulate their best winning sequence in a season – seven matches in a row – which they first achieved in 1940 and repeated again in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Indeed between 1999 and 2000 Merrion managed a sequence of 14 wins in all competitions. Notwithstanding the build-up, the expectation today is for a Home win. Lest this incur any criticism from Merrion supporters I would like to make it clear that I will continue to predict wins for their opposition for as long as Merrion continue to win.
A match between North County v The Hills is never without interest. The last time the two teams met in the league The Hills took full points and won by over 100 runs. But North County previously beat The Hills as only one of their three losses of the 2013 season. Last year home advantage counted for nothing so it will just depend on who turns up on the day. [Since I am predicting a loss today I can of course then go for a Merrion win agasint Ardmore tomorrow]
Terenure have had an awful start to the season and take on Railway in Park Ave. Both sides suffered heavy defeats last night and will be keen to get something from the weekend. For Terenure, it has mainly been their batting that has let them down with three scores below 100 and a sub-par 150 to lose by 89 runs to North County last weekend. Given their overall strength anything other than a Railway win would be a surprise.
The final D1 match sees Clontarf take on Pembroke in Castle Avenue. Both teams have won twice this season and have progressed through to the second round of the Irish and Leinster Senior Cups. In normal circumstances a full strength Clontarf should just about shade it but Pembroke bring some good form into the game following their two wins last weekend and will be confident of winning.
In D2 Rush have an important game against Merrion II, which they really need to win to help them move clear of the bottom of the table. Their win last night against DU will have helped but Rush really need a run of wins. The two teams had a close encounter last year when Rush won by just two wickets. The form of some of their main players has not been so good this year but a batting friendly Anglesea Road wicket may help.
Dublin University play their second game in two days and take on an under performing Leinster. DU have come off worst in a few close encounters in recent weeks and should be able to get the better of Leinster.
Pembroke II take on a Balbriggan team that is full of runs this year and should be too strong for the Sandymount side. With Cork County only involved in the Irish Senior Cup, the final match sees Phoenix face an inform Malahide team. Home advantage will count for little if Strydum and McAllister get Malahide off to another good start.
So the predictions for the weekend. Last week five out of six correct calls on the Saturday in the cup hardly prepared me for the poor showing on Monday when only one of the four D1 sides picked to win obliged. There was more success in D2 though, with 4/4.
For this weekend: wins for
RNC: Civil Service, Dundrum and Laois
RIC: Warringstown, Coleraine, Merrion, Clontarf, North Down, The Hills and Pembroke
D1: YMCA, Railway, North County, Pembroke
D2: Rush, Malahide, Balbriggan, DU
Not too many team sheets unfortunately.
Terenure: S Moreton, D v Zyl, C Morgan, C Kelly, D Langford-Smith, R Jones, C Dickeson, C Mullan, J Smith, U Jehangir, D Lynch.
Merrion II: K Beasley, C O’Donoghue, N Brown, B Bhathal, P Blakeney, C Allwright, M Neville, I Joyce, A O’Brien, N Sharma, R Bridge.
Malahide: C riches, A Reynolds, G Deans, F McAllister, R Strydom, J Govan, D Arnold, P Chase, A Morris, C Shoebridge, P Saville