The penultimate round of fixtures in the SportsHub Senior League Cup take place this weekend, and with teams taking part in the Irish Senior and National Cup competitions on Saturday, this week’s fixtures are to be played on Sunday.
Looking firstly at the permutations for semi-final spots across the two groups, in Group A things are relatively straightforward, Clontarf need a win this weekend to confirm a qualification spot with a week to spare, whilst two wins for Merrion would see them secure the other position, holding a 19 point cushion as it stands, ‘Tarf require 32 points from their final two games to be guaranteed top spot. A Merrion win this weekend would mathematically eliminate Leinster, Balbriggan and Rush from the equation, on top of Cork County and North Kildare who already cannot progress to the semi-final stage. YMCA are currently in third and certainly have the third best chance of qualifying, they will need a win this weekend if they are to keep pressure on the top two, being 11 points behind, they will need a slip up from one of the teams above them in order to progress.
Things are much tighter in Group B, however Pembroke hold a 20 point cushion at the top and are 33 points ahead of third placed Dublin University, a win for them this weekend in Railway Union would confirm them as semi-finalists. There is then one spot to fight for between the next five sides in the table, Malahide and Terenure are both already out of the competition, however just 23 points separate 2nd placed North County and 6th placed Phoenix, and those two sides are set to face off, if North County win, they will almost guarantee themselves a spot in the semi-finals, with only the winner of the fixture between The Hills and Dublin University able to pass them on the final day, whilst for Railway Union, a loss to Pembroke this weekend would be fatal to their qualification hopes, wins for Phoenix and Railway would see five teams entering the final round of fixtures playing for two qualification places, with the only side that would drop out of contention in that scenario being the loser of the game between The Hills and Dublin University.
Moving on to this weekend’s fixtures, starting in Group A, Balbriggan welcome Cork County to North Dublin with their visitors on the road for the first time since April 30th. They would’ve hoped to emerge from three home fixtures in the meantime with more than just one victory, however they fell foul of an excellent Harry Tector century last weekend, and a terrific rear-guard chase from Leinster on the May Bank Holiday, so will have been pleased by their performances in the main. Byron McDonough in particular has bowled well over the last few weeks, whilst Rudolph Pollard’s return has been a help with both bat and ball. Abubakar Saddique bowled economically last weekend and will be vital this time around, given how visiting spinners have tended to fare in Balbriggan so far this season, if he bowls well he will give Cork County every chance of a result.
For the home side, they bounced back on track with a good run-chase last weekend and will have been buoyed by the return to form of their skipper Greg Ford as he made 132 in that effort, whilst switching Chris de Freitas up the order to number 3 also paid dividends, it will be interesting to see if the same tactics are applied again by the home side, as they will look to the likes of Connor Fletcher to regain some form and support those middle order batters who are in slightly better touch. With the ball, Ryan Hadley certainly enjoyed bowling in Rush last weekend and ‘Brig will be hoping that he can transfer that form back to their own ground this weekend in a game where even a win will leave them relying on other results to still be in contention to qualify on the final weekend.
With the frailties at the top of the home side’s order so far this season, it’s likely Cork County will be hoping to get stuck right into them from the get go with the ball, Byron McDonough beginning to take wickets has been a massive boost for them, and if he can get a look at Chris de Freitas early doors, it will be an important spell for the Balbriggan left-hander to navigate if his side are to make a decent total.
KEY BATTLE: Chris de Freitas vs Byron McDonough
Next up we have YMCA’s first senior men’s game in Claremont Road since they returned to the ground last week. They host North Kildare in a game they need to take as many points as possible from if they are to have a chance of progressing to the knockout stages.
The away side are again without the bowling services of Muzamil Sherzad, whilst Monil Patel is also injured. The side have stumbled badly in recent games, since letting an extremely commanding position slip from their grasp against Clontarf on May 2nd, they fell to a defeat in Cork where the home side were also allowed to come back from the doldrums, before suffering a thumping loss against Leinster last weekend, they will desperately need whoever fills the gap left by Patel to carry some of the form of their 2nd XI (who have scored 313 and 439 in their last two fixtures) into this match if they are to have any chance of preventing YM’s charge towards a semi-final berth.
The home side meanwhile have seen their top-order falter last weekend and still produced a victory, thanks mainly to an excellent Harry Tector century, they will be hoping that opening pair Mitchell Thompson and Jack Tector can get them off to a solid start with the bat to allow their middle order to capitalise against the understrength NK bowling attack. With the ball, 8 wickets in his last two games has seen Rory Anders in absolutely flying form, he was vital to their excellent start in Cork last weekend in the absence of Reuben Wilson. Having initially entered the season with a stacked stock of spinners, YM bowled just 9 overs of spin last weekend, and given this lack of options it wouldn’t be unfair to think whether they may later rue losing Cillian McDonnell’s services to Clontarf, even if their former player isn’t allowed to feature in the remainder of this competition.
Considering their lack of Sherzad with the ball, North Kildare’s spinners in the middle overs will be crucial, veteran Manjeet Singh in spite of his age is still their premier spinner and will have a battle on his hands. The form of Harry Tector has been nothing short of imperious this season, and if he can get in and going again this weekend will be a tough man to stop.
KEY BATTLE: Harry Tector vs Majeet Singh
Up next, the form team of the competition in Clontarf face off against Rush who have struggled since their opening day victory over Leinster, in spite of pushing both Merrion and Balbriggan closer than it would have once appeared in the last two weeks.
‘Tarf managed a comfortable victory over Merrion last weekend, however it wasn’t without a stumble, as their top order once again slipped up and saw them reduced to 38/3, before Ruan Cronje and the in-form player of the competition David Delany both made half centuries to bring them to a good score. Both of those men, plus John McNally and ‘Bobbo’ Forrest at numbers 6 and 7 are fluent stroke players and rebuilding innings’ certainly wouldn’t have been in their job description before the season began, so if Clontarf can manage to build something of a base for them to build from this weekend, they might be able to see this middle order used in it’s most effective manner. With the ball, Delany’s opening spells have been excellent in the main, he’s bowling quickly with control and getting good support from Mick Granger and Fionn Hand in the seam department. Paul Ryan and Ruan Cronje have both also supplied superb spells of their own this season, and will be vital to keeping the Rush middle order under control this weekend.
The visitors welcomed back skipper Neil Rock last weekend with an excellent innings of 85, and whilst there were plenty of other starts in the innings, nobody else kicked on to a big score for them. Llew Johnson and Rock will be the main men again this weekend, but Rush will be hopeful that if someone like Jack McGee or Eoghan Conway makes a start at the top of the order, that they too can push on and make a big score, to allow their two main men in the middle play with the freedom that suits them both best. With the ball, Allan Eastwood is still out for the away side with a return from injury not too far away, so it will once again be up to Daniel Coffey and Jarred Barnes with the new ball, whilst McGee and Brandon Morris have both produced good spells of spin bowling in this competition so far as well and will be required to be on form in Castle Avenue.
Finally in Group A, Merrion visit Leinster in a fixture where the home side have a chance to throw the cat amongst the pigeons and cause Merrion’s qualification chances some damage if they can beat their visitors.
Leinster come into this game off the back of a big victory over North Kildare and confidence will be high as a result of that. Aside from the first day of the season, when Saqib Bahadur made a fine century, their batting has relied upon smaller contributions from a number of players in order to produce big scores. Joey Carroll and Chris Janik in their middle order are crucial in this regard as two of their more consistent players, and if the rest of the line-up can build around them it will be a big help to their hopes of posting a good effort. With the ball, Ben Mitchell was again on fire last weekend, following up his three wickets against YM by knocking over four of NK’s top 6, whilst Joey Carroll’s three wickets will be another encouraging sign for the Rathmines side.
Merrion’s top order has been in excellent form this season, Stephen Doheny was in the runs again last weekend and in spite of the emphatic final scoreline, things could have been very different were it not for each of he, John Anderson and Swapnil Modgil all getting out having made strong starts. Beyond the top 4 hadn’t done much batting this season until the last two weekends, and given Merrion ended up just scraping past Rush after a mini-collapse, their drop off after losing their fourth wicket last weekend is not a massive shock. They will need contributions from lower in the order at some point if they are to be considered contenders, and if Leinster get a look at the Merrion middle-order this could well be the day they need to start. Merrion have generally been consistent with the ball, however will likely be concerned with the relative lack of penetration and control they had between their two left-arm spinners last weekend compared with previously this season, Stanton and Sidhu will need to improve significantly in this respect to give Merrion more control in the middle overs of this game.
Given their struggles last weekend, Amish Sidhu will need to be the man to help Merrion bounce back this weekend, if Joey Carroll gets on top of him for Leinster the home side will be well on their way to putting the brakes on Merrion’s semi-final push.
KEY BATTLE: Joey Carroll vs Amish Sidhu
Moving on to Group B, there are a couple of mouth-watering ties to be played, starting in The Vineyard where The Hills host Dublin University in a game which will see the loser essentially knocked out of contention for a semi-final berth.
The visitors enter this game off the back of two defeats in their last two games, and will need to turn things around if they are to have any hope of qualifying for the semi-finals, last week saw them slump to an 18 run loss in spite of chasing what looked to be a below par total of 173 set to them by Phoenix, compounding their loss to North County a week earlier in a reduced game which certainly suited their visitors more than it did them. Sanil Gupta was restricted by an injury to his hand last weekend which didn’t help the batting cause, but the Students will again be looking to Nic Pretorius at number 3 and Gavin Hoey at number 4 to produce strong performances with the bat. With the ball, David Vincent bowled excellently last weekend, and will be looking to back that up again, whilst seamers Theo Dempsey and Mikey O’Reilly will be aiming to produce more strong opening spells, an area of the game which has put them on the front foot on more than one occasion this season so far.
The Hills on the other hand come into this game with all the momentum and form, after a strong batting effort including a century for Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and half century from Andy Kavanagh, they absolutely steam-rolled Railway Union thanks to superb spells from Dylan Blignaut and Jonathan Tall. Back on their own patch this weekend, the bowling of skipper Tómas Rooney-Murphy and regular first change bowler Ashley Bain will become more important on their more lively wicket, whilst with the bat, in spite of looking good in early weeks, Murray Commins is yet to produce the huge score he seems to be threatening to do, if he’s on form, alongside the later power game of Blignaut, The Hills could produce a score too much for the Students to cope with.
Given his importance to the side in last season’s clutch games at the back end of the season, Murray Commins is their man for a tough situation, the home side will be looking his direction to get them off to a solid start with the bat. Mikey O’Reilly’s ability to swing the ball at the top of the innings is his greatest asset, if he can move the ball and extract some movement out of the bouncier wickets in The Vineyard, he is likely to be the man who causes Commins the most issues early on.
KEY BATTLE: Murray Commins vs Mikey O’Reilly
Next up, is the game between 2nd placed North County and 6th placed Phoenix. The home side have the opportunity to knock their visitors out, and also put one foot in the semi-final themselves with a win, whilst a win for Phoenix would blow the battle for second place wide open!
County come into this game off the back of a resounding victory over Terenure, in spite of at one stage being 133/7, a John Mooney rear guard effort saw them to a good score, and carrying that momentum into the second innings it was once again the classy Malcolm Nofal who caused most of the damage in a comprehensive victory. They will once again be up against a strong bowling attack in Phoenix, and will need to put together a more coherent start to their innings if they are to post a big total, skipper Eddie Richardson will no doubt have been frustrated by seeing every one of his top 5 reach double figures but not one pass 30 before Mooney’s contribution saw them to a good score. Jamie Grassi will be one man in particular who knows Phoenix well, and will be looking to put together a big score to capitalise on his decent looking form from last week. With the ball, Nofal has been superb this season, but the start the opening bowlers gave him to build on last weekend was of massive importance, if they can take early wickets again this weekend, Ghaffar and Azhar will have made life a lot easier for the men to follow them.
Phoenix also carry momentum into this game having scraped over the line in Terenure two weeks ago, they won a similarly tight game last weekend in Trinity College. George Dockrell has threatened to go big in both of those games with the bat, before being dismissed tamely on both occasions, whilst there were also contributions from Will Bennett and Tyrone Kane however nobody was able to kick on to a big score and as a result, their victories have been far less comfortable than they could have been on another day. With the ball, Conor Sheil had a crucial impact in last week’s game, and he will no doubt want to put in a good performance against his old club this weekend. Whilst international duo of Dockrell and Ben White will aim to keep it tight in the middle overs. Oliver Hald’s bouncy left-arm and Tyrone Kane’s nippy right-arm offer good variation at the top of the innings as well.
Given they needed to bounce back to set a score last weekend, County will be keen to get off to a solid start, Niall McGovern at the top of the order is by no means a slow player but possibly the most sedate in this top 5, if he can build a base against Oliver Hald’s new ball spell it will be a huge help to the home side.
KEY BATTLE: Niall McGovern vs Oliver Hald
Up next is the Park Avenue derby as Pembroke make the short trip across the road to face off with Railway Union, comfortable in the knowledge that a win would secure them a semi-final slot. The home side however will be equally aware that a loss would see them eliminated, and will be doing their very best to win and blow the race for qualification wide open.
The home side come into this game off the back of a pair of polar opposite results, a couple of weeks ago their batting led by Kenny Carroll and Liam McCarthy posted an excellent score in defeating Malahide, before last week completely capitulating against The Hills under similar pressure to which they had exerted the week before. They will be looking to Carroll again this weekend to give themselves a chance of posting a competitive score, however support will be required and that will mean a turnaround in fortunes for Ashil Prakash and Hashir Sultan, both of whom have failed last weekend. With the ball, Alan Mathew has performed well with the new ball, and with the spin of Hamza Maan appearing to be back to near the form he had when he last played for Railway Union in 2019, the home side will be confident they have the facilities to cause their visitors some problems.
Pembroke will come into this game fresh as they have a bye in the first round of the Irish Senior Cup which takes place on Saturday. Their batting has been in excellent form lately, with Lorcan Tucker making a century two weeks ago and Theo Lawson unbeaten in the 90s last time out, whilst Diarmaid Tucker has made half-centuries at the top of the order the past two weekends as well. This base has allowed their middle order to strike boundaries later in the piece and make scores which are daunting for their oppositions to chase. With the ball Poonish Mehta and Joe Prendergast have given them a good start with the new ball, whilst Piyush Sharma has taken some important wickets so far this season, their consistency will again be key to keep the scoring rate down, but it’s the spinners of Paul Lawson and Donncha Tucker which will be most important in Park Avenue this weekend, given the damage spin bowling has done in the ground over the last number of weeks.
With him being the backbone of Railway’s two best batting performances so far this season, Kenny Carroll’s contribution will be vital to the home side’s chances with the bat this weekend, if he can survive the opening burst of Poonish Mehta it will be a big point in the game.
KEY BATTLE: Kenny Carroll vs Poonish Mehta
Finally this week it’s the only game in Group B which cannot impact the qualification for the semi-final stage, as Terenure host Malahide. Both sides qualification hopes ended with defeats last weekend, however momentum is important in cricket and both teams will be hoping to turn around their poor runs of form leading in the league season which starts on June 6th.
Malahide are boosted this week by the return of Mike Frost who comes into the game off the back of a mid-week five-wicket haul for the Munster Reds in The Mardyke, whilst Leinster Lightning bowler David O’Halloran is also close to completing his comeback from injury and will continue to build up his overs in this game. Fintan McAllister returns to the side for Sunday’s game having missed out last time out, and will add to the batting stocks in the absence of Callum Riches. Aaron Doyle comes into the game off the back of a half-century and century last weekend and will be hoping to build on that impact this weekend. With the ball, James Newland and Cameron Shoebridge will support O’Halloran and Frost and both will be hoping to make best use of the extra bounce on offer in Terenure to their advantage.
Terenure on the other hand will be handing debuts to Hilal Asad and Niqash Ali in Sunday’s game, and will be hoping a bit of fresh blood can provide some impetus to their performance this weekend. Last week’s hammering by North County was a backward step from the previous week’s performance and in spite of a couple of good moments, a big improvement will be needed if they are to trouble Malahide, even with their visitors being in similarly bad form. Zubair Khan and Sadiq Safi will need to bowl tightly for the home side, whilst with the bat they will be looking to their opening pair of Séamus Lynch and Henry Dall to get them off to a good start and set a platform for the middle order to accelerate and build a big total from.
The return of David O’Halloran is a big boost to Malahide, and his opening spell will be important to them, if he can get the better of Séamus Lynch for Terenure, it will be a huge moment in the game for the away side to get the upper hand.
KEY BATTLE: Séamus Lynch vs David O’Halloran
SPORTSHUB SENIOR LEAGUE CUP
MAY 22ND
GROUP A
At Balbriggan – Balbriggan vs Cork County
At Claremont Road – YMCA vs North Kildare
At Castle Avenue – Clontarf vs Rush
At Observatory Lane – Leinster vs Merrion
GROUP B
At The Vineyard – The Hills vs Dublin University
At Inch – North County vs Phoenix
At Park Avenue – Railway Union vs Pembroke
At Terenure – Terenure vs Malahide