IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW – MATCH DAY 14 (SEPTEMBER 7TH)

The 14^th and final day of fixtures in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League takes place this weekend, and with the title still absolutely firmly up for decision, it’s set to be one of the most exciting weekends of the season!

There’s a full round of three fixtures set to take place, with Malahide having already completed their season, and sitting in 6^th position, with only a full points victory for Balbriggan potentially seeing them overtake The Village. That would have to occur in a home fixture against Leinster, as Balbriggan face the Rathmines outfit in Jack Harper Park, whilst the other mid-table clash sees Phoenix at home against Clontarf, with a win for the home side securing third place for them, whilst a win for Clontarf could potentially see them jump to 4^th if Leinster fail to win.

Finally in Anglesea Road, the league title will be decided as Merrion play host to Pembroke in what has looked for much of the season to be a game set up for just this. Also, due to the first game between the two sides being a rain-off, this fixture crucially must be played, meaning that in the unlikely event of weather intervening this weekend, there will be a refix. The equation for the home side is very simple, they must win if they are to be league champions, Pembroke currently sit 7.5 points clear in the table, and are the highest ranked unbeaten team in Open Competitions by 6 full divisions. Pembroke remain unbeaten thanks to what might be thought to be a remarkably uncommon feat of having tied two matches this season, however the most recent occasion on which this happened was actually in 2021, when in a much shorter season, Clontarf tied two of their seven fixtures, including against Pembroke! A third tie of the season would see the Sydney Parade outfit crowned champions.

BALBRIGGAN VS LEINSTER

In Jack Harper Park, the home side round off an injury-ravaged season against the LHK Alan Murray Cup champions Leinster. Balbriggan are set to field a similar outfit to what took the field against Pembroke last weekend, and whilst the league leaders blew that side away, they can look to the likes of Cameron Rowe and Chris de Freitas to lead the way with the bat, and Dylan Lues, Sebastian de Oliveira and Sam Willemse with the ball, to lead the way and potentially give them a chance to round the season off with a victory.

Leinster meanwhile will be hoping for strong ends to the season from their key batters in Monil Patel, Saqib Bahadur & Joey Carroll in the middle order, whilst a return for Gareth Delany following this week’s interpro action would obviously be a welcome boost. With the ball, Tom Johnson has been an obvious spinning stand out, and he’ll have support from Bahadur, whilst their recent Lightning debutant Jai Moondra, skipper Bilal Azhar and opening bowler Mark Tonge will all look to utilise the quick conditions in Balbriggan to their favour.

Chris de Freitas is the key man for Balbriggan with the bat, and has been a driving force this season more so than most in the past, he will need to get through Jai Moondra’s spell of left-arm quicks if the home side are to have a chance of a competitive batting effort.

KEY BATTLE: Chris de Freitas vs Jai Moondra

PHOENIX VS CLONTARF

In the Phoenix Park, the all-Ireland Champions attempt to finish their mixed season with a win against Clontarf, which would see them be only the third team in the league to win half of their 12 fixtures. Their side will be reliant on the batting of Jack Lalor, George Dockrell, Tyrone Kane & Shane Getkate to put themselves into a good position, whilst their spinners are led by Ben White, Amish Sidhu and Devender Ranolia, and they are ultimately the main men which they will hope can perform with the ball to give them the upper hand.

Clontarf meanwhile have been taking a pragmatic approach with the bat in recent weeks with consistent success in terms of scores, and some results going their way thanks to strong fielding performances. David Vincent and David Delany have proved to be in good form, whilst they will also be hoping to see John McNally in full flow once again this weekend, with their top 6 rounded off by Eoghan Delany, Mitchell Thompson and Fionn Hand. Hand and Reuben Wilson will lead the bowling attack, whilst they also have a spin unit which can cause issues, including Yash Bala, Cillian McDonnell & Vincent.

The home side will be hoping that Amish Sidhu can continue his good bowling form and spin a web against Clontarf this weekend, and his battle with the left-hander David Delany at number three could prove intriguing in the context of this fixture.

KEY BATTLE: Amish Sidhu vs David Delany

MERRION VS PEMBROKE

The game which, from the very outset of the season, many will have touted as a potential title decider, has finally been reached this weekend, and with it essentially being winner-take-all, a repeat of the 2019 Premier League final taking place exactly five years to the day since Pembroke came back from the dead to win that tie is an extremely fitting way for the season to reach its conclusion.

Merrion are set to have four survivors from the fixture featuring in Saturday’s rematch, with John Anderson, Max Sorensen, Mike Lewis and Tom Stanton all having featured in that fixture, whilst now assistant coach Dom Joyce opened the batting for the side.

Pembroke are also much changed, with their side set to include Fiachra & Lorcan Tucker, JJ Garth and Paul Lawson, whilst Barry McCarthy, who would otherwise be a fifth player to feature, is likely to miss out due to his rehab from injury.

That’s not the last time however the sides met in a league decider, more recently they contested the Premier League Final in 2021 in Sydney Parade, in which Merrion were victorious, thanks to runs for Stephen Doheny, Jack Carty & John Anderson, and with two of those set to feature again, they will doubtless be hoping for repeat performances.

Pembroke’s side on that occasion in 2021 also featured six players who have been in the side regularly this season, however one who definitely won’t is Ryan Hopkins, who was not out in both of the finales mentioned above, making a match-winning 54* in 2019, and rattling an unbeaten 42 in 2021 in a fixture where those at the ground could feel the final margin getting much closer than the 62 runs it ended up had Hopkins not run out of partners.

This season, the sides are facing off for the third time this weekend, with both of those fixtures having been T20s in Sydney Parade, they shared those fixtures one apiece, and with the format and ground both being different this weekend, they might not be the best of guides for what could happen! The only two previous 50-over white-ball encounters between the two sides in Open Competitions have come in Sydney Parade, in the semi-final of the 2022 Senior League Cup, where Pembroke were victorious by 84 runs, whilst in the group stages of that competition in 2019, Merrion were victorious by 139 runs. This game will be the first time the sides face off against each other in this particular format in Anglesea Road ever!

Looking ahead to this game, there are two excellent sides set to do battle, with both teams littered with Internationals past and present, as well as bundles of Interprovincial talent.

Starting off with Merrion, their side has been led brilliantly by Sam Harbinson this season, in his second year with the club the side have been a model of consistency, and been beaten by just three teams all term. Phoenix, however, have been a constant thorn in the Anglesea Road outfit’s side, knocking them over in the first round of the Leinster Senior Cup, the heartbreaking Irish Cup Final, and most recently just last weekend in the league by just one wicket. Pembroke and Leinster are the other sides to have inflicted defeat upon this weekend’s hosts, and they’ll be incredibly keen to secure a victory this weekend to make the most of what has been in the main a season where they have performed excellently.

Harbinson returns to number five in the order this weekend, with Stephen Doheny and Swapnil Modgill set to continue their destructive partnership at the top of the order, and considering Doheny’s record against Pembroke in these end-of-season fixtures, they look set to be a vital partnership once again. John Anderson will seek to continue his brilliant run of form into the final weekend, whilst Adam Rosslee returns from a knock to bat at number four, giving Merrion their formidable top order back at full strength once again. Following Harbinson, Pete Francis, Mike Lewis & Jamie Forbes will be the men tasked with putting the foot to the floor in the back-end of the innings, and getting the side to a total which could potentially trouble the Pembroke line-up.

With the ball meanwhile, they have coped remarkably well with the loss of Mikey O’Reilly to injury in the second half of the season, with his absence atoned for by a timely return to the bowling crease for Pete Francis, who has been in good form in recent weeks. He’s likely to share the new ball with Melvin Devaraj, who’s been another big find for Merrion this season, and is their leading bowler with 19 Senior wickets coming at an average of just 12.4. That pair are supported by Harbinson, who is second on their list with 16, and Max Sorensen, who offers plenty of experience to the side. The left-arm spin of Tom Stanton has been crucial as the frontline option for the side so far this season and in spite of taking just 6 wickets, he has a season long economy below 3.8 which makes his spell extremely valuable. Meanwhile, the sixth bowling option in the side coming in the shape of Swapnil Modgill’s off-breaks, and whilst more expensive, he has managed to claim 14 wickets with his exploits this season.

The Merrion skipper Sam Harbinson kept things short and sweet when looking forward to the weekend’s showdown, perhaps a sign of just how focussed his side are in ensuring they finish the season with some silverware;

“We’ve had some great battles both this season and over the years with Pembroke. They are a quality opposition and we look forward to the challenge on Saturday”

As far as their opposition, Pembroke come into the game with an incredibly strong side on show, also seeing just one change to their side from last weekend’s dominant victory over Balbriggan. The change comes behind the sticks, where Lorcan Tucker takes the gloves from Greg Hollins, with the Irish wicket-keeper likely to reprise his role at number three in the batting line-up, which would allow Harry Tector to slide down one position to his preferred slot at number four. They will be following the Pembroke opening duo of Tim Tector and JJ Garth, with that pair having been in fine form for much of this season, averaging just either side of 40 in senior cricket this season respectively.

Nick Stapleton will feature at number five, and he acts as the vital link between their aggressive top three, and their finishers in the side at numbers six, seven and eight, where Jack Tector, former skipper Fiachra Tucker, and explosive all-rounder Gavin Hoey will feature. Stapleton and Garth have been the two men to produce the strongest efforts against Merrion in their two T20 fixtures earlier this season, however the all-round form of their side with the bat this season has been relatively strong, and any of the top 5 has the ability to go out and make a big score in a game of this nature.

With the ball, Pembroke have been in remarkable form for much of this season, with four of their bowling attack taking 16 wickets or more in their seasons thus far. Their attack has been led by the current leader in the O’Grady Cup standings, Byron McDonough, who having had to fight initially to get into the side, has taken 21 wickets at an average of just 8.67 in his 7 appearances so far this season. Nick Stapleton is the next most successful bowler in the side so far taking 18 wickets, with McDonough’s average making his own excellent effort of averaging of less than 12.3 per wicket look somewhat expensive. The spinners who have had the most success are Gavin Hoey and Paul Lawson, who have taken 16 wickets each, averaging just 15 and 15.7 respectively in their efforts so far. The other man who will likely feature with the new ball is Olly Riley, who’s six appearances this season have seen him taking five wickets, whilst Harry Tector’s return to the side for the final few weeks of the season has seen him emerge as a very strong bowling option once again, even seeing him taking the new ball against Malahide a couple of games ago.

Pembroke’s skipper Nick Stapleton also gave us some of his thoughts ahead of this fixture, and whilst the side are unbeaten so far this season, his comments give a strong insight into the high standards the Sydney Parade outfit hold themselves to;

“We haven’t really spoken about being unbeaten. I’m very proud of the whole squads effort to get us to this game”

Stapleton was also keen to emphasise the number of players who have contributed in pushing the side into this position where they can potentially win the title, in competition with a really strong adversary;

“Win or lose, we’ve had so many players contribute to the season and are just looking to control our own effort and attitude on the day. Merrion are an extremely strong side and it should be a brilliant game of cricket.”

There are so many moments in which this game could potentially sit on a knife edge, Pembroke’s opening pair of Tector and Garth will be trying to get their team ahead of the game against Merrion’s opening bowlers in Francis and Devaraj, whilst both of those bowlers will be champing at the bit for a chance to bowl at Lorcan Tucker early in the piece. Whilst when Pembroke are bowling, Gavin Hoey’s spell through the middle overs is likely to see him locking horns with Adam Rosslee and his Leinster Lightning team-mate Sam Harbinson, as well as Paul Lawson who will be aiming to outfox the Merrion lower-middle order as they attempt to accelerate the innings.

The men to watch however will likely be those featuring at the top of the bill in the Merrion innings. As mentioned already, Stephen Doheny has produced some fine scores in ties between these sides at the back-end of the season, and they will be looking to him to get them off to a flying start and allow the middle order to tee up a big score. In order to do that however, Doheny will need to negotiate the opening spell of Pembroke’s skipper Nick Stapleton, who plays his final game for the outfit after two brilliant seasons, and will doubtless be hitting the deck harder than ever in an effort to guide his side to a second trophy of the season and third during his time at the club. If Stapleton can nick Doheny off early on, particularly if the home side are batting first, it could well prove to be the catalyst for a potent opening burst for Pembroke.

KEY BATTLE: Stephen Doheny vs Nick Stapleton

IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE

MATCH DAY 14 – SEPTEMBER 7^TH

ALL GAMES 11:30AM START

At Jack Harper Park, Balbriggan vs Leinster

At Phoenix Park, Phoenix vs Clontarf

At Anglesea Road, Merrion vs Pembroke (FEATURED GAME)