With the D1/D2 league competitions taking a short mid-term break, attention this weekend turns to the semi-finals of the RSA Leinster Senior Cup. There are two intriguing ties with The Hills hosting Malahide and Merrion taking on Clontarf.
Malahide have had a great run of wins this season and were unbeaten in D2 until last weekend when they lost to Cork County. In the first round of the cup they defeated D1 opponents Railway Union in a high scoring contest by five runs. That day they were able to count on a century from Reinhart Strydom [145] to secure a five run victory. They will again be looking to strong performances from Strydom and his fellow opener Finton McAllister to pave the way for a win.
Fortunes in The Hills have been in marked contrast. The season started badly and they are still well in the lower half of the league table. But recent form has been much better with five wins out of six in all competitions stretching back to the 17th June. The bowling attack has more depth with Thomas Murphy and Mark Dwyer fit and available and in Manu Kumar they have someone who is capable of taking wickets in the top order. The batting line-up has really not performed as well as it should this year but in recent weeks there have been signs of players coming into form and allowing the team to be less reliant on runs from Cormac McLoughlin.
The Hills have come through a number of tough matches over the past few weeks and this will stand them in good stead. They are also good cup performers. On current form and with home advantage one would expect them to get through to the final.
The second match sees another encounter between Merrion and Clontarf. Earlier in the season the two teams met in Anglesea Road and Merrion came out comfortably on top. Since then the fortunes of the two teams have changed. Clontarf have been able to ride the wave of batting onslaughts from Bill Coghlan and Andrew Poynter to simply bat opponents out of the game. They have been well supported by U17 Colin Currie and skipper Eoghan Delany. If there bowling has lacked penetration at times it still has a good all round balance with the experience of Joe Morrissey and Zander van der Merve and plenty of youthful enthusiasm in Adam Craig and David Delany. They currently are third in D1 and have won seven of their last eight [50 Over] matches since the start of June.
Merrion got off to a flier this season and did not lose a match in any format until the 22nd June. Since then their form has dipped and they have lost three of their last five games. Injuries have not helped and they continue to suffer today with John Anderson out of the team. Merrion are still top of D1 and boast a strong batting line-up but may be stretched in the bowling if any of the main Clontarf batsmen get set.
On current form one would expect Clontarf to go in as favourites.