Leinster Senior League Cup – Matchday 6 Preview

There’s only one place to start in looking ahead to Saturday’s matches in the IBI Corporate Finance Leinster Senior League Cup and that is in Balrothery, and the clash of North County and YMCA.

Although a Group A match, this is effectively a Premier League play-off match. YM in 5^th are six points ahead of County but with Dublin University ineligible for a spot in the Premier League, Saturday’s winner will most likely claim that crucial final qualifying position.

Neither of these big clubs would have envisaged playing Championship cricket in the second half of the season, but the excellent form of Malahide and a revitalised Phoenix has pushed them to the brink.

An extra piece of spice to the affair is the return of Leinster Lightning’s Fionn Hand to North County after he joined YMCA in the off-season.

The top two in the group, with 100% records so far, meet in Milverton as The Hills host Malahide. In the third match Phoenix travel to Railway Union looking for a win that would keep the pressure on Malahide above them in the race for a semi-final spot.

See the full Group A table here

In Group B, things are similarly on a knife edge. Rush in fifth, host Pembroke a place above them in the table and need to build on last week’s incredible batting performance against Clontarf if they are to leapfrog the visitors and move into the final Premier League spot.

Clontarf for their part, are already consigned to the Championship and visit Terenure in a basement battle. At the other end of the table Leinster host Merrion, who are five from five, hoping to consolidate their semi-final position as it stands.

See the full Group B table here

Stay tuned to the new match centre on the website, check out the CricClubs App and watch out for tweets on both @cricketleinster and from reporter Peter Boyd (@fibrofella) over the course of the day’s play to keep up to date with scores.

Peter will be attending the crucial clash between North County and YMCA at Inch with a full match report and images to follow at the close of play.

IBI Corporate Finance Leinster Senior League Cup

Saturday 18^th May 2019

All matches begin at 12pm