A weekend of mixed fortunes for Merrion saw then make a surprise exit from the RSA Leinster Senior Cup at the hands of Malahide but recover to win against Railway the next day and find themselves at the top of the RSA Open Competitions D1 [by one point]. With a growing injury list and pressure on key players for representative duty they may find it a challenge to remain at the top. Merrion will, however, take great comfort from the performance of their middle order with Peter Blakeney making two half centuries and David Watkins scoring over 100 runs [as well as taking six wickets] over the two matches.
The Hills had a bad weekend. Narrow losers to Clontarf in the cup on Saturday, they were unable to match North County in the local derby and ended up dropping out of top spot in the league for the first time this year. The failure to chase down a modest Clontarf total in the cup will be particularly disappointing and may point to a more deep seated vulnerability in their batting. Over the last few weeks they have benefitted from some superb individual innings but will be looking to a few good team performances if they are to win the league.
Some clubs had really good weekends. Clontarf will take more pleasure from their cup win and a continued run in the senior cup than another easy victory in the D2. Malahide, who lost to Clontarf on Sunday, and who are not really competing for promotion, will be delighted to still be in the cup. The other big winners were YMCA and Pembroke.
YMCA navigated a tricky double weekend without Reinhart Strydom and came out with two wins. In the end a superb all round performance [72* and 5/27] from Simmi Singh saw off Leinster in the league while Robert Garth [5/10] and Alan Lewis [76*] accounted for North County in the cup.
The other club that will feel much happier this Monday morning is Pembroke who are still in the cup thanks to a comfortable enough win against Railway and, even more important, secured the critical win over Phoenix in the league. With all five main bowlers taking wickets on Saturday this is clearly a team effort. Theo Lawson and Robin Russell brought the match home for the loss of only one wicket against Railway. [Unfortunately no details from the Phoenix v Pembroke match beyond the result].
Another team with a 50% record over the weekend are North County. Ousted from the cup by YMCA, they bounced back to win against The Hills on Sunday in the league. North County are looking like a strong all round outfit this year with different players stepping up to the mark each week with either bat or ball. They will be disappointed to lose in the cup but if they can secure wins against Railway and Merrion over the next two weeks they will be in a very strong position to challenge for the league in the second half of the season.
The big losers this weekend are Railway Union who without Kevin O’Brien at the helm suffered two serious loses with their batting letting them down badly against Railway in the cup and their bowling failing to stop a weakened Merrion batting line up making 263/7 in 50 overs. With their talisman and captain scheduled to miss some matches due to commitments in the West Indies, this will be a nervous time for Railway who will be looking over their collective shoulders hoping that Phoenix do not string together a few wins.
A number of teams had a day off on Saturday. Of these Terenure had a comfortable win against Balbriggan [on Sunday] who now look like they are in a dogfight with Merrion II for the second relegation spot. Phoenix lost to Railway so stay in the second relegation spot in D1, but they will now also have Railway in their sights. Phoenix play Leinster next weekend and will be hoping that the latter’s poor form will continue for another weekend.
The final D2 match saw Rush put up another massive score against Leinster II [two more centuries] and win by a comfortable margin of 74 [DL].