It was a weekend of astounding results in the RSA Senior Cup, with a few upsets to go alongside some mightily impressive displays.
Cricket historians were thumbing through the history books to find the last time Old Belvedere won five matches on the trot. After wins over Rush, Killyclooney, Leinster 2 and Civil Service, Cork County were the visitors to Cabra, and the Munstermen must have thought they had a decent chance after 70 from Sam Ward helped post 236 all out. Solid batting from all the Old Belvedere top order got them home, although at 127-6, there was a fair helping of doubt. Yousafzai and Tayyab saw the home side into the next round.
In the match in Milverton, The Hills blew away Terenure, with Sorensen, Mark Dwyer, Tomas Murphy and Jonno Andrews all helping themselves to wickets. 67 didn't offer the Terenure attack anything to bowl at, and The Hills needed only 56 balls to end the match.
Leinster may have thought they had ground out a defendable total against Railway Union in Park Avenue. It was to be a match of balls faced, as Peter Johnston with 62 from 152 balls, and Stephen Moreton, 44 from 90 balls put on 94 for Leinster's second wicket. The rest of the Leinster batting couldn't do much more though, and the Rathmines side had to settle for 190. Whether 390 would have been enough is debateable though, as a 59 ball 80 from Kevin O'Brien (alongside worthy contributions from Collins, Fisher and Carroll) saw Railway romp home in 27 overs.
The lower orders settled matters in the clash between North County and Malahide. At 135-5, it could have been all over for Malahide, but useful runs from Callum Riches, Andy Pyne and Peter Chase got the Villagers to 284-8 from the sixty overs.
At 174-5, North County may have fancied themselves to get home. This year's North County has a longer tail than that of old though, and 174-5 became 214 all out, as Malahide smelled blood. Ryan Gallagher was the top wicket take with 4-34, but Neil Boyne's 2-35 from 12 was impressive.
Two heavyweights paired off in Sandymount, with Merrion's John Anderson (88) and Kade Beasley (54) getting Merrion to a promising 240 all out. But the solidity of YMCA's middle order saw them home, Trent Johnston scoring a run a ball 68, to see this years final hosts into the next round with eighteen overs to spare.
No details from the Pembroke versus Rush clash, but the current Division 2 leaders had a big win, scoring 333-5 against Rush's 110 all out.
The draw for the next round takes place on Wednesday morning.