The coming weekend sees the completion of three more Open Competition Cup competitions.
Alan Murray Cup Final
Clontarf v Merrion at Pembroke C.C. – Friday 14th August – Start Time – 5.15 pm.
Devotees of twenty over a side matches, now referred to as T20s, sometimes think of them as a relatively new invention. In fact in Leinster it is now in its sixty-third season. In 1952 a midweek league in this format was inaugurated and two years later, Alan Murray, a longstanding member of Pembroke C.C. provided a cup for it. Leinster were the first winners of the competition but Alan Murray’s own club were the first winners of the trophy - in fact Pembroke also won the then Senior League and Cup in 1954.
The competition was run by the Pembroke club for the first twenty-five years of its existence but responsibility was then handed over to LCU. In the early years not all clubs chose to enter but its popularity gradually increased. It has had several formats. Originally there were two sections created with an open draw with the winners of each section playing a final. It was then for many years a straight knockout competition but a major revamp occurred in 2005. In that year a system of sections with “round robins” of matches on the same day leading to a “finals day” was introduced and continued for some years. The single day round robin was then changed back to evening matches but with increased popularity of the T20 game in recent years, clubs and players sought a format which guaranteed them more matches of this type. Thus in 2013 the completion moved to two (north and south) sections culminating in a finals day.
Unfortunately due to fixtures pressure this season, although the section matches were held , the finals day had to be abandoned and replaced with semi- finals and final on separate midweek evenings. As it has turned out, Clontarf and Merrion, the two section winners, have made it to the final.
Records of winners are sketchy for some of the early years. Clontarf’s first recorded win was in 1970. They have been successful on five occasions since then and are the current holders. Merrion are first recorded as winners in 1996. That has a couple of links to this year’s final. Merrion were captained by Kevin Allwright, father of this year’s captain Rory and their opponents in the final were Clontarf. That win was the first of a run that saw them take the trophy seven times in ten years. The last of those, in 2005, was their most recent win. Clontarf have been in fine form recently – current Division 1 leaders, Senior Cup winners and beating Merrion in the league last weekend but T20 can be different.
Teams:
Clontarf: (from) E Delany (capt), B Coghlan, A Cusack, A Darcy, C Darcy, D Delany, S Dutt, R Forrest, M Granger, C Kelly, S Moreton, J Morrissey, A.Poynter.
Merrion: R. Allwright (capt), J. Anderson, L. Bester, D. Joyce, T. Kane, H. Kennedy, D. Langford-Smith
M. Lewis , D. Rhoda, R. Smith, T. Stanton, C. Allwright (12th man)
Intermediate Cup Final
Mullingar 2nds v Swords at Ring Commons C.C. - Sat 15th August - 1.00 pm.
The Intermediate Cup is the oldest Leinster trophy and quite possibly the oldest Irish trophy. It was first competed for in 1895. The rosebowl trophy is engraved as Irish Cricket Union – Leinster Branch - The Intermediate Cup, an interesting one for the cricket historians. The first winners were Athy, a club who competed in Leinster again for a short while in the 1990’s but no longer do so. The first winners of modern clubs were Clontarf in 1897 (same year as Custer’s last stand – significant ?). Since then the names on the cup are an interesting list of clubs that flourished but are no longer with us – Land Commission (possibly a forerunner of Merrion), Richmond Asylum ( who claims them ?), Beaumont, Bellshire, Deanhill, Cremore and others. Prior to the introduction of the Senior 2 Cup in the 1940’s, this was where lower teams played, as witnessed by Leinster 2nds win in 1931. Later on the Fingal area makes its mark – Rush 1945 and 1950, Balrothery 1951, ‘53 and ‘54.
Of this year’s finalists, Swords, having only come into existence in the past few years are seeking their first cup. Mullingar, who entered Leinster competition in the early 1970s, took this trophy for the first time in 1977, retained it the following year and won again in 1981. Since then they reached the final but were unsuccessful in 1993 and 1994 but won in 1997 – their most recent win.
Although Mullingar are in the higher league division, that tends to count for little in cup finals.
Teams:
Mullingar 2nds: M. Condell (capt), D. Ashley, R. Delaney, M. Fegan, O. Field, A. Haider, E. Lindsay, L. Maimba, Y. Mir, N. Monon, T. Mount, (12th man) R. Jaafar.
Swords: R. Mathew (capt), A.Jacob, S.Jose, A. Nair, S. Nair, M. Nandanan, E. Paiva, S. Philip, Jackson Santhosh, Sijo Thomas, Sunil Thomas, (12th man)R. Jose.
(Reserve List – V. Aravind, A. Binu M. Jacob, J. James , S. Joseph, A. Paul, Jerson Santhosh)
Junior Cup Final
Cabinteely v Merrion 7 – Sun 16th August – Civil Service C.C – 12.30 pm
Sunday next sees the final of this year’s competition for the second oldest Leinster trophy. The Junior Cup was first won by Royal Hibernian in 1910 and they retained it in 1911. Other names from its early years are Pembroke Wanderers (yes they must have had a cricket team), Sandymount 2nds and St.Paul’s. The first modern name to appear is Merrion in 1920 followed closely by Railway and Steam Packet Union 2nds in 1923. Many clubs long gone appear in later years – Irish Times, Sackville Press, Harding, Pioneer and Postal Services. Of clubs still with us, Leinster have been the most successful with teams appearing on the trophy twelve times over the years.
After their 1920 success, Merrion had to wait until 1986 to take the trophy again but have since won it five times, most recently in 2012. This is the first occasion their 7th XI has reached the final but this team won the Minor Cup last year and are not without experience therefore. Cabinteely, who only entered competitive cricket three seasons ago, are in their first final.
Teams
Cabinteely: from - A. Jain (capt), A. Abdullah, V. Jain, T. Manzoor Khan, R. Kiran, S. Kumar,
Merrion 7th: U. Reddy (capt), K. Boddu, S. Bokka, M. Cossavella, J. David, A.Dutta, A. Kharb,
V. Krishna, A. Naughton, K. Neela, M. Sandys, (12th man) C. Austin.