LHW FINANCIAL PLANNING LEINSTER SENIOR CUP FINAL PREVIEW – AUGUST 1ST!

The LHW Financial Planning Leinster Senior Cup Final is scheduled to take place on Saturday 1st August between Pembroke and Leinster starting at 12.00pm in Sydney Parade.

The Open Senior Cup competition dates back 91 years to 1935 and was initially played for by eight clubs - Leinster, Civil Service, Clontarf, Merrion, Dublin University, Pembroke, Phoenix and YMCA.

A quick look at previous winners confirms that Pembroke (with 15 Senior Cup wins) have drawn level with Phoenix & Clontarf.

Leinster have won the Senior Cup competition on 10 previous occasions although the trophy hasn’t been displayed at Observatory Lane since 1997 (some 29 years ago). The 2026 Leinster CC squad will be looking to put this right as it is the only competition where Leinster have failed to make any major progress in recent seasons.

The competition has been played in various formats over the decades. The 2026 iteration has, once again, been played as a white-ball (coloured kit) knock-out competition.

The competition is sponsored by LHW Financial Planning which is led by Alan Lewis and Jack Tector. We very much appreciate the ongoing support from LHW which has a long association with cricket in Leinster over many years.

Pembroke will be looking to achieve a Senior Cup treble on Saturday having won the 2024 competition defeating Phoenix and the 2025 competition overcoming Clontarf in the last two Senior Cup Finals, both also held at Sydney Parade.

TEAM NEWS

Whilst the upcoming international series for Ireland does mean that both sides are missing out on bowlers for this fixture, both sides are still full of star quality heading into the weekend.

The two-time holders Pembroke are without Byron McDonough, who has earnt his first international call-up this week, with leg-spinner Gavin Hoey the other bowler missing from their full-strength attack.

That duo’s absence means there is a slot for teenage seamer Dan Murray for this game, and he’ll play a supporting role to the likely opening pair of Addison Sherriff and Olly Riley, meanwhile Paul Lawson will be the lead spinner in the attack, with his form this season being as important as ever to his side, having claimed 32 wickets at an average just under 20 in all CL competitions. His support comes from the off-breaks of Harry Tector, which have proved key in previous encounters between these sides, particularly last season’s Premier League finale.

On the batting front, Pembroke benefit hugely from the inclusion of their internationals, however at the top they are led by two of the leading lights in club cricket for the past number of years. 2024 final Player of the Match JJ Garth will open the innings alongside the in-form Tim Tector, who is off the back of a massive unbeaten century in the Irish Cup semi-final, before his century in the IP50 Final last week, he was also unbeaten on 86 in their league win over North County on Saturday. Andy Balbirnie will bat three, and he comes into this fixture off the back of a century in his last Pembroke appearance, also in the Irish Cup semi-final against Malahide.

The middle order features bundles of talent, Harry Tector and Addison Sherriff both made scores in excess of 70 in the quarter-final victory over Balbriggan, whilst Lorcan Tucker (47) and skipper Jack Tector (58*) were also in good form that day, that quartet will occupy slots four through seven in the batting order, and the depth is exemplified by Dan Murray at 8 and the likelihood that one of the heroes of the semi-final with the bat in Paul Lawson, who made 54 against The Hills, will likely appear at number 10.

Leinster meanwhile do have something of a new addition with the ball this weekend as in spite of the loss of Jai Moondra to international duty, there will be a return to the bowling crease for their Kiwi overseas player Thomas O’Connor, who has been restricted to a batting-only role for nearly two months due to injury. This will see him joining the in-form Bilal Azhar, who has taken 4/65 and 3/1 in the last two rounds of the competition, Mark Tonge, who has overcome a shoulder knock just in time to take part in this tie, and Joey Carroll in a strong seam-bowling line-up for this final.

The spin in this side will come from the off-breaks of Saqib Bahadur, whilst Gareth Delany’s leggies offer significant depth in this department, with his wicket-taking ability set to prove key through the middle overs.

With the bat, Leinster are able to call upon another in-form man at the top of the order this weekend, as Luke Horgan has seen scores of 85 and 126* force his way into the side. He’ll be joined at the top by Tom Johnson, whilst Monil Patel is another man who was in the runs last week, unbeaten on 67 as he and Horgan added a monster unbroken partnership for the second wicket.

The star of the cup campaign thus far for Leinster has been Younas Ahmadzai, with the right hander set to bat at number four, he has plundered two centuries in double-time in previous rounds. Firstly against Merrion in the Round of 16, he smashed an unbeaten 105 from just 39 balls, scoring 96 of his runs in boundaries, before another sensational knock put them out of sight in the semi-final when he made 123 from just 55 balls, this time with thirteen fours and seven maximums. In the game where Ahmadzai failed however, Gareth Delany delivered, showing how many match-winners there are in this side, as his 118 helped set up a total too imposing for Railway Union.

With O’Connor, Bahadur, Carroll and Tonge all equally capable of finding the boundary in the closing overs of the innings, this Leinster side look very well set to produce a strong batting effort in this tie.

PEMBROKE: Jack Tector (Capt), Lorcan Tucker (WK), JJ Garth, Tim Tector, Andy Balbirnie, Harry Tector, Addison Sherriff, Daniel Murray, Joe Prendrergast, Olly Riley, Paul Lawson

LEINSTER: Bilal Azhar (Capt), Rian Cassidy (WK), Gareth Delany, Luke Horgan, Thomas O’Connor, Tom Johnson, Mark Tonge, Saqib Bahadur, Joey Carroll, Monil Patel, Younas Ahmadzai

The toss in this game could prove to be key, the last two finals have seen Pembroke batting their opposition out of the game with powerful first-innings totals, whilst Leinster have also done just that in the last two rounds of the competition, doubtless whoever wins the toss will be looking to the old adage of ‘runs on the board in a final’.

Aside from the coin toss, it is clear that Leinster are a team to be feared greatly when Younas Ahmadzai is in the runs, and the hosts will be acutely aware of the need to take his wicket early in his innings, Gavin Hoey was the man that had his number on T20 Finals Day early in July, however in his absence it could fall to the seamers to produce the goods here, and it would be no surprise to see Olly Riley used immediately against the destructive right-hander. If Ahmadzai gets going, this game could swing Leinster’s way quickly.

KEY BATTLE: Olly Riley vs Younas Ahmadzai

The Final will be live-streamed throughout the day with commentary via the CL YouTube channel.

As part of the day, there will also be the annual CL Patrons & Sponsors Lunch with over 80 guests in attendance.

The historic trophy will be presented to the captain of the winning team by Alan Lewis, Managing Director, LHW Financial Planning.

Our thanks again to Alan Lewis and Jack Tector at LHW Financial Planning for their sponsorship support which is very much appreciated.