PEMBROKE DOUBLE-UP AGAIN - IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE FINALE!

It was the ending that the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League deserved this evening in Observatory Lane, as 375 runs were shared between the top two in the league, as Pembroke emerged victorious by 27 runs, securing the title for the second season in a row, their second consecutive league & cup double.

Paul Lawson called correctly at the toss, and had no hesitation in sending his batsmen out to make first use of a wicket which had improved markedly in the favour of batting since Saturday's fifty-over game. It was Leinster however who got off to the perfect start for the second game on the bounce however, as Jai Moondra cleaned up Tim Tector with a beauty first ball of the innings.

This brought Harry Tector to the crease, and having then found the boundary twice, he and JJ Garth began a counter-attack which proved crucial to Pembroke's batting efforts. The duo added 86 in the following 8 overs, before the introduction of Joey Carroll saw Tector bowled for 30. Lorcan Tucker added 28 alongside Garth, however when Saqib Bahadur dismissed both in the 12th over, there was a brief chance for Leinster to squeeze. When Jack Tector was dismissed, the score was 132 and the innings could easily have gone either way.

Pembroke however grabbed the remainder of the overs and ran with it, as Macdara Cosgrave (22*) played an excellent supporting role to Gavin Hoey, who brought up his half-century off the last ball of the innings, with the pair finding the boundary regularly, Hoey in-particular launching a brace of massive sixes out onto the Mount Pleasant end of the ground. The end result was Pembroke 201/5 in their 20 overs. Joey Carroll the pick of the bowlers for the Rathmines side, taking 2/21 in his four overs, however dislocating a finger while fielding on the boundary saw him having to leave the field with four overs to go.

The Leinster reply suffered an early blow as well, as Ben Mitchell was caught off the bowling of Andrew Boulton for six, what followed was a fine stand between Younas Ahmadzai and Monil Patel, as they added 83 in just 39 deliveries, before Ahmadzai made the fatal error of taking on Lawson one too many times, caught on the long-on boundary by Jack Tector for 55 from just 24 deliveries.

Gavin Hoey then entered the attack, and having dismissed Gareth Delany early, caught by Barry McCarthy, he then disposed of Monil Patel, who made a fine 51, caught by the same fielder on the deep mid-wicket boundary. Bahadur became his third victim, stumped sharply by Tucker, with the run out of Tom Johnson following swiftly, seeing Leinster fall from 123/3 to 130/6 in the space of 12 balls, and putting Pembroke well on top.

Barry McCarthy returned to the attack himself to remove Mark Tonge, caught at long-on by Harry Tector, before a brief fightback from Jai Moondra saw Andrew Boulton taking the brunt of the damage. It was the Aussie who would have the last laugh however, as he saw Moondra caught by Cosgrave, before an excellent Harry Tector catch off the final ball of the innings saw Boulton pick up his third, and Pembroke run out 27 run winners, securing the title for the 2025 in emphatic style.

Congratulations to Pembroke, their players, coaches, officials and supporters on an excellent season, and of course, Cricket Leinster would like to extend it's thanks to IBI Corporate Finance for it's continued support of this competition over the past number of years, it is greatly appreciated.