A fantastic series of matches across the first two leagues saw lots of runs and a number of tight finishes. Pride of place should go to Pembroke who bounced back from a narrow loss to Merrion in the QF of the Leinster Cup the previous day to record an equally tight victory in the league on Sunday. It was a match that kept the sizeable crowd entertained all afternoon.
Pembroke once again put in a good team performance with the bat. Theo Lawson [55] was the only player to make a half century but eight players got into double figures. 236/8 might normally have been counted on the low side at Anglesea Road but playing on an outside wicket [away from the nearly finished new pavilion] there was a little more in it for the bowlers. Dom Joyce and David Watkins got three wickets a piece and Tom Stanton was economical – 10 overs for 11 runs.
Merrion got off to the worst possible start. Both openers out for five in the first two overs and a third wicket [Joyce] to fall before 40. A 75 run partnership between Damien Poder [44] and Brett Thompson [67] brought Merrion back into the game but when first Poder and then Thompson fell Merrion were in trouble at 150/5. Short was out soon after but a stand of 50 between Chris Allwright [32] and John Anderson [42], batting with a runner, seemed to have Merrion back in control with only 21 needed in four overs. But in an inspired spell Jono Cook [3/36] took the last three wickets [plus run out] and Merrion were all out four runs short in 49.5 overs. Earlier U17 schoolboys David Murphy [2/27] and Fiachra Tucker [2/33] had bowled well to help set up the Pembroke victory.
There were other very tight matches elsewhere in the D1. Terenure just fell short [also by four runs] trying to overhaul a Clontarf total of 249/7. For once it wasn’t Bill Coghlan who led the way but three 50s from the middle order from Andrew Poynter [89], Eoghan Delany [50] and Adrian D’Arcy [57] that set up the total. James Smith and Stephen Moreton got three apiece.
Terenure lost early wickets but a century partnership between Colm Morgan [51] and Moreton [62] brought the Clontarf total into sight. Ru Jones [63*] continued to battle but did not get enough help from the tail-end and Terenure fell four runs short.
The Hills win over Railway in Park Avenue may well prove important in deciding one of the relegation spots. The Hills batted first and only managed 210 [the lowest first innings score of the day in D1] with nobody making it past 50. Three wickets each for Mo Tariq and Pat Collins. But the Railway batting failed to fire and ended up a disappointing 38 runs short. Four wicket for Mark Dwyer [4/33] and three for Tomas Murphy [3/40] coming on as third and fourth change did the damage.
In the final match in North County, the home side made 241/9 with only Nathan Rooney [63] making a big score. Yaqoob Ali was the pick of the bowlers with 4/49, though a spell of 10 overs 1/28 by Simi Singh also deserves mention. YMCA then lost two early wickets but this only resulted in Singh [99*] and Peter Moor [101*] getting stuck in, both scoring at better than a run a ball to get home in less than 40 overs.
The result of the weekend’s work. It looks a lot tighter at the top with YMCA and Clontarf closing on Merrion. At the bottom Terenure 35 points off sixth place and safety. Railway, The Hills and North County , however, are within 20 points of each other.
Division 2 also had close finishes with Leinster just failing [4 runs again] to beat Malahide who made 280/8. Finton McAllister led the way with 88 but was ably supported by Callum Riches [62] and Ian Guerin [54]. The score could have been even higher were it not for Bilal Azhar’s 4/30 in 10 overs. With Craig Mallon [89] and Pete Johnston [57] making the major contributions, Leinster were never out of the hunt but just could not get over the line [despite assistance from Malahide in the form of 44 extras] and ended up 276/7.
Balbriggan made 236 and it was just enough as Phoenix lost be 8 runs. Cork County had a comfortable eight wicket victory over Rush chasing 161 [no scorecards].
It looks [as it has for a number of weeks now] as the league title is between Malahide and Cork [they play each other next week], neither of whom has lost a game yet in D2. Phoenix and the two 2nd XIs [Merrion / Pembroke] will likely be fighting it out to avoid the relegation spots.