Clontarf CC – 2018 Review
For young Ireland fast-bowler David Delany, the highlights of 2018 were lifting both Leinster Senior and Alan Murray Cup trophies, “any season with 2 trophies in the Clontarf cabinet is a great success.”
There were long periods of the season when Premier League and Irish Senior Cup trophies could have been added to that haul, not to mention how agonisingly close they came to retaining their All-Ireland T20 crown against Waringstown.
“From being 45-6 in the Leinster final,” Delany says, “it took a special innings from Robert Forrest (66 off 61), with a vital contribution from Ropu Islam (35 off 45), to take our total up to 192-8 in the allocated 40 overs.
“North County got out to 106-1 but that was when our self-belief and self-confidence came to the fore. To finish the County innings at 175 all out, with Waqar Azmat taking three outstanding boundary catches, epitomizing our performance in the field.”
To win trophies, Merrion were the team to beat in 2018, and it was a strong performance against them in August that secured ‘Tarf the Alan Murray Cup. “Captain, Joe Morrissey’s, 4-15 was vital in restricting them to just 100 in the final,” says Delany.
“Merrion came back strong (just eight days later) in the ISC semi-final at Castle Avenue. We got off to a bad start,” acknowledged Delany, “never really recovering but all credit to Merrion with an all-round clinical performance topped off by a fine 99* from John Anderson.”
Towards the business end of the season, the big games came thick and fast for Clontarf and they had little margin for error.
“Having to win every game to set up a final-day shoot-out with Merrion, ultimately a narrow mid-week loss to YMCA ended our chances of winning the Premier League, this was our biggest disappointment of the season.”
Having won the Alan Murray Cup, Clontarf again represented Leinster in the All-Ireland T20 and again faced Waringstown in the final. In a rain-affected match, Clontarf fell despairingly close to repeating their victory in 2017’s inaugural AIT20 competition.
A contributing factor to success is often a settled squad and team, something Clontarf enjoyed in 2018. One notable addition was overseas pro Obus Pienaar, someone Delany learnt plenty from.
“Obus was a model professional, leaving no stone unturned searching for an edge in training, fitness and performance. He has a great love for the game and we learnt so much in all three aspects of the game.”
Indeed, Pienaar was part of the partnership of the season according to Delany, presumably not swayed by Eoghan Delany accompanying the pro!
“Their 141-run partnership against Phoenix in August, took us from 80/3 to the brink of victory to stay in contention for the league. They oozed class as the runs accumulated, taking ones and twos off good balls, boundaries from the substandard balls. It was a joy to watch.”
“A notable mention must go to 2nd XI player of the season, Matthew Butler, who was rewarded with his first team debut against Merrion where he took 1-54. Matt epitomized the spirit in our squad with training 3 times a week from April to September.”
At the Club Dinner in September however, it was Bill Coghlan who was singled out by his teammates for Player of the Year honours, with Delany explaining why.
“Bill accumulated 966 runs at 46.00 with highest score of 111. Unfortunate not to get an Ireland Cap, Bill has been a stalwart for Clontarf at the top of the order. We hope he comes again for the 2019 with the same vibrancy.”
The Clontarf squad is comfortably one of the most experienced in the Premier League, therefore they’ll be hoping all return with the energy and desire shown in 2018. With some fine young talents in the underage set-up, Clontarf will be there and thereabouts in 2019.
Clontarf CC – 2018
Premier League – Runners-up
Irish Senior Cup – Semi-finalists
Leinster Senior Cup – Winners
Alan Murray T20 Cup – Winners
All-Ireland T20 – Runners-up