The competition at the top of Division 1 is hotting up. The comprehensive win by Clontarf in their refixed match against The Hills during the week means that there are now three teams in active contention. Clontarf have league leaders Merrion in their sights on Saturday and a win for them will see three teams, the other being YMCA, within one win of each other. Merrion, at home, will end the first cycle of matches at the top regardless of the result.
Merrion go into the game with an unchanged side: D Joyce, B Ackland, T Kane, B Thompson, J Anderson, T Smith, J Short, D Watkins, S Morrissey, D Carolus, T Stanton.
YMCA travel to The Hills and will want to put last week’s loss against Merrion behind them. Five wins out of six is certainly a good return for their efforts so far this season but they need to beat The Hills to keep up pressure at the top of the table. With only two wins The Hills are only just above the drop zone and badly need to string together a few wins to avoid a nervous end to the season.
The YMCA team is A van der Merve, P J Moor, A Bailey, P Flanagan, B Gamble, T Fisher, S Singh, J Tector, Y Ali Shah, R Chawla, S McAuley. Trent Johnston played last weekend but isn’t on the scoresheet for this game.
At the other end of the table Terenure take on Pembroke. Terenure had a great win last weekend against Railway and will be keen to take another Sandymount scalp. A win will bring them level with Pembroke on two wins a piece. This could prove a vital match for both sides.
The final game is between Railway Union and North County in Park Avenue. Railway haven’t managed a win in the league since the first round and could end the weekend on the bottom of the table if other results go against them. North County are mid-table and with their strong bowling attack could still mount a late charge for the title. They need to put Railway away first though.
Railway: P Collins, C Divney, K Carroll, P Conliffe, R Gaur, D Kapoor, G Lambert, S Shamim, M Tariq, T Townsend, S Ullah
North County: C Garry, I Bertram, E Richardson, J Mooney, T Affleck, J Newland, T Sheil, N Rooney, J Grassi, A Coughlan, C Sheil
There are no more teamsheets. If any are submitted I will put them up.
There are only three D2 matches this weekend. Malahide are currently leading the league and should be too strong for Pembroke II in Sydney Parade. A win will bring them to 6 out of 6 with only Cork County [who they have yet to play] close to them. Cork, also undefeated but with an abandoned match, take on Balbriggan in the Mardyke. Balbriggan have only won twice [though this includes the double pointer against Trinity] but are a much improved team this year and have the batting to dominate any attack in the division. The most interesting game of the day is probably between Leinster and Phoenix. Leinster have got a few welcome wins under their belt since they lost to Pembroke II in Round 2. Phoenix on the other hand seem rooted to the bottom and haven’t recovered from their loss to Merrion II the same day. They need to turn their season around quickly.
Malahide: C Riches, A Reynolds, F McAllister, R Strydom, D Arnold, G Deans, J Govan, P Chase, C Shoebridge, A Morris, P Saville.
Leinster: Leinster are captained by Hugh MacDonnell in the absence of the injured Craig Mallon. Richard Forrest retruns to the fold after his part season with Trinity.
H MacDonnell, G Delany, A Ward, R Forrest, P Johnston, JP O'Dwyer, J Kerrison, B Azhar, R Kenealy, D Coad, S Chaudrey