The first half of June has been an been an immensely busy period for cricketers up and down the island. The impression as I was logging all the matches was that there had been a hige number of upsets in all regions, and that there would be some big changes.
Waringstown were always going to be number one - they remain unbeaten in 2016. But Instonians, Clontarf, Pembroke and Merrion have all been beaten, and there must be some form aof a changing of the guard. The reality is that precisely because of everyone being beaten, there have not been too many changes. Waringstown have opened up a 3.3 point gap on Clontarf in second place, who themselves are now 8.2 points ahead of YMCA in third. But apart from Waringstown, very few clubs will conisder themselves to have had a perfect season.
Three teams have moved up by five or more places since our last rankings. In the North West, Newbuildings have beaten Terenure, Ballyspallen and St Johnston to move from 48th to 43rd. Leinster have started to move back up the table after a couple of seasons of falls. DLS wins in the Leinster Senior Cup over The Hills and Phoenix has then moving up from 27th to 21st, with the last time they finished in the top 20 being 20th in 2014. Phoenix have been most impressive of all (alpart from the Cup loss to Leinster), and are real title contenders in Leinster Division 1. WIn sover YMCA, Cork Couinty and The Hills in the last four weeks move them from 23rd to 18th. The last time Phoenix finished higher than 18th was way back in 2006.
At the other end of the scale, there have been a few clubs that have had a tough June so far. Cork County have only beaten Rush on the pitch this season (outside of Munster comps) and tumble seven places to 29th as a result. Malahide have also had a tricky time of it (although the gloom was lifted after a one wicket win over Cork County), and they have slipped outside of the top 20, dropping five to 22. The Hills have dropped outside of the top 10, after several losses. 2005 was the last time the Fingal club finihsed outisde of the island's top 10! A long way to go yet this season.
The draws for the Irish Senior Cup and National Cup were made during the week. Waringstown (1) will be big favourites against North County (11); Merrion (5) also big favourites against Derriaghy (26), as are Instonians (4) at home to Phoenix (18) with the other game being much tighter as CIYMS (10) host YMCA (3) in a potential cracker.
The National Cup will see unranked Laois having a chance at home to Ballyspallen (36), Balbriggan (31) travelling to Rush (32) in a humdinger, unranked County Kerry welcoming Newbuildings (43) to the Kingdom and another unranked team, Limerick hosting 33rd placed Woodvale.