Laura Delany in action from 2017
Merrion consolidated their position at the top of the Leinster Senior [D1] League with a comfortable win over YMCA at Claremont Road in the latest round of T20 matches.
Batting first Merrion dominated proceeding from the outset with Matilda Lugg [47] and Isobel Joyce [83*] opening. Even when Lugg was out with the score on 86 there was no let up as Cecelia Joyce [31*] joined her sister at the wicket and runs continued to flow. The final score of 175/1 was always going to be a difficult target to beat.
YMCA got off to a quick start and for a time were ahead of the required run rate, but when Jennifer Grey was run out with the score on 45 the innings began to falter. The key wicket was that of Gaby Lewis who fell with the score on 71 having made 43 in 22 balls. Once Robyn Lewis [22] was out with the score on 108 the wickets fell quickly with the Merrion spin attack doing the damage - Rachel Delany [2/35] getting early wickets, Celeste Raach [2/22] doing the damage in the middle order and Julianne Morrissey [4/15] wrapping up the innings.
Leinster kept up their pressure on Merrion in the league table with their third win of the season when they accounted for Pembroke by 26 runs at Sydney Parade. Batting first they made 144/4, the highlight of which was an undefeated 72 from captain Laura Delany. Despite a half century from Clare Shillington [54] the Pembroke innings never really recovered from losing three of the top six wickets to run outs. The pick of the bowlers was Sophie MacMahon with 3/26.
In the final game of the evening Malahide secured their first T20 [and second overall] victory of the season when they beat Clontarf by 34 runs. Again it was the team batting first that took the honours and with 194/2 at the close of first inning Malahide were well on top. The runs from the bat for Malahide came from Paris Crowe [73*] and Niamh Walsh [56] but the total was helped by 47 extras including 38 wides and 5 no balls.
The early loss of captain Una Raymond-Hoey set back the Clontarf chase and Kerry Tomlinson [72] did not get enough support from the rest of the batting to challenge the total. Clontarf ended up on 160/8 with the wickets well spread and Niamh Wash the most successful with 2/26.
A simplified league table now looks like this.
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Bonus Points | Total Points | % |
| Merrion | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 129 | 88.97 |
| Leinster | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 80 | 72.73 |
| Malahide | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 61 | 71.76 |
| YMCA | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 52 | 47.27 |
| Clontarf | 5 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 28 | 19.31 |
| The Hills | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
00.00 |
| Pembroke | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 00.00 |
Pembroke 1 and Merrion 1 deducted 5 points for playing unregistered players