Open Competitions League and Cup Structure

The make-up of the Open Competitions [League, Cup and T20] have been finalised and shows again the steady growth in the number of clubs and teams in Leinster competitions.

Over the past three years the clubs taking part in leagues have increased from 31 to 36. This of course includes the loss of two clubs, Ballyeigan and Old Belvedere, as well as the Irish Women [who now compete in the ECB County Championship]. The total number of league teams over the period went up by 7.

42 clubs now participate in the seven Leinster Cup Competitions, eight more than in 2011. There are nine new Leinster clubs in all, Cabinteely, Dublin Fire Brigade, Greystones, Longford, Lucan, Ring Commons, Slieve Bloom, Swords and Tyrellstown. Overall there are 13 more teams than in 2011. The total breakdown, including T20, for 2013 is:

                                    Clubs              Teams

Leagues                      36                   118

Cups                           42                   125

T20                             29                   94

The structure of the Open Competitions shows that there are eight leagues with eight teams each and six with nine. This might suggest that we are close to adding another league if any new teams appear next year. There is perhaps less pressure in respect of cup competitions, but the Minor Cup now has 26 teams in it and may require some surgery if it grows much bigger. The addition of a fifth T20 cup [Russell Court in 2012] and a regional format has taken some pressure off the T20s.

In terms of sizes of clubs [league teams] the breakdown is as follows:

Seven              2          Clontarf , Merrion

Six                   3          Leinster, Railway U, Pembroke

Five                 3          Malahide, North County, Phoenix

Four                5          Civil Service, Laois, Rush, The Hills, YMCA

Three             11        Adamstown, Balbriggan, Castleknock, Greystones, Knockharley, Mullingar, N Kildare, Sandyford, Terenure, Dublin University, Dundrum

Two                6          Bagenalstown, Dundalk, Halverstown, Swords, Wexford, Wicklow County

One                 6          Cabinteely, Cork, Longford, Lucan, Ringcommons,         Slieve Bloom

A few general points to end with. The majority of clubs first teams obviously appear in the top two league competitions, eight and six. A further two clubs have 1^st XIs in D3 and four in D4, suggesting that there is reasonable upward pressure to get 1^st XIs into the top two divisions. The remaining 1^st XIs are spread through the leagues with the most [4] in D7.

The distribution of clubs by area shows a much better geographical spread than in the past. There are now clubs across all of Leinster except Kilkenny with strong growth in the SW/West peripheries of Dublin with new clubs in Adamstown, Cabinteely, Castleknock, Lucan and Tyrellstown.

One issue that was discussed at the last LCU AGM was the gap in standard between teams in the same club. Three clubs Dublin University, N KIldare and Balbriggan have teams six leagues apart, Wicklow have teams five apart and there are five clubs with teams four apart, Wexford, Laois, Dundrum, Castleknock and Mullingar. Mullingar has two four team gaps. 

With many sports suffering declining numbers due to emigration and the general economic situation, cricket in Leinster has done very well to continue to expand over the past three years. Much credit for this goes to the small group of development officers who have helped to bring cricket to new areas, to assist in the acquiring of grounds and the laying of new wickets and especially to promote the sport by going into primary schools and introducing cricket to a new generation.