TERENURE VS KNOCKHARLEY - LHW SENIOR CUP - PRELIM ROUND (APRIL 18TH)

The top-level Open season starts with the LHW Financial Planning Leinster Senior Cup preliminary round fixture between Terenure CC and Knockharley CC.

Our thanks to Alan Lewis, Jack Tector and the team at LHW Financial Planning for their ongoing sponsorship of our Open Senior Cup competition, it is very much appreciated.

The winner of this match will host The Hills CC in the first round of the overall competition which is scheduled to take place on Saturday 16th May.

This will be Knockharley’s debut fixture at this level and is just reward for all the progress which has been made at Kentstown over recent years, both on and off the field of play. The Meath club also has a vibrant and growing youth section with ambitions to establish a women’s cricket programme over the next period.

Terenure are seasoned campaigners at this level and whilst the D6W club has never lifted the trophy, they were beaten finalists in 2001 as CYM when they lost out to YMCA by 46 runs. In more recent years, they have fallen at the Quarter-Final stage on a couple of occasions.

We spoke with Mubeen Ali will be captaining Knockharley this season and he spoke enthusiastically about the opportunity for his club - “This is a golden opportunity for us to compete in the Senior Cup for the first time. We’ve been conducting ourselves well over the last year in general and have been preparing well over the pre-season period including the recruitment of some talented players to bolster our resources at the higher level. I have every confidence that we will acquit ourselves well over the course of the 2026 season and in doing so, we will take down big name clubs along the way.”  

Players who shone during their 2025 campaign include Daneyaal Janjua who amassed 374 runs at an average of 41 including a masterful 116* against Laois in August. Last season’s skipper Ali accumulated 308 runs and top score of 59* away to Laois whilst Sumit Singh was another player who made consistent contributions at the top order including a top score of  55* whilst he also passed 30 on another 5 occasions.

The Knockharley bowling attack was dominated by right-arm seamers - Daneyaal Janjua took 26 wickets at an average of just 19.08 whilst Ahmed Kayani accumulated 21 wickets at 23.48. These two were well supported by Don Retty and Aabis Mirza who both made solid contributions with the ball last season taking 15 and 10 wickets respectively. Mirza has particularly fond memories of Terenure with his best  effort of 3/11 coming against Terenure 2s.

The most notable point of difference for Knockharley  may well be the ‘evergreen’ Kamran Mirza who was able to take 17 wickets in 2025 with a best of 5-35 coming against Wexford Wanderers at the end of June. On a ground, that at times can be tricky to defend his experience will be hugely important for his side this weekend.

The veteran Shami Ahmed will add experience to the Knockharley squad

That said, Knockharley will be delighted to have secured the services of Kashif Ali (from Balbriggan) and Ehtesham (Shami) Ahmed who will be making Kentstown his 8th home ground in a long and successful career in Leinster club cricket. Kashif Ali has the distinction of being part of the Balbriggan team which lifted the coveted Irish Senior Cup in 2025 so he will add much needed experience to the Knockharley squad.

Terenure will be captained this year by the returning Henry Dall who takes the reins from Donal Lynch and will be looking to increase the team’s win rate (especially in close games) as they look to challenge for the First Team League title and a place in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League for 2027.

That said, the immediate focus will be on avoiding any early season upset in this preliminary round cup game where home advantage should see Terenure well placed to progress to the next round in mid-May.

Mick Cotter led their batting unit upon his return to the playing ranks last season. He scored 434 runs at 48.22 in the league last season, with a top score of 105* against North Kildare in The Maws. He will likely be joined at the top of the order by young Gareth Morgan (son of Terenure veteran, Colm Morgan) who had a top score of 96 in a promising 2025 season.

Mick Cotter & Gareth Morgan will open the batting for Terenure

Terenure will be boosted by the return of overseas man Henry Dall who will be replacing Hancke Von Rauenstein this season. Dall has the potential to solidify the Terenure batting line-up having scored 1,097 runs during his previous sojourn at the club, including a best of 97 and has returned off the back of a Premier 1^st Grade winning campaign with Kensington DCC in Adelaide, where he contributed 617 runs at an average of 41.13. The middle-order this year will once again be underpinned by Donal Lynch and Sid Nair (both of which came through the Terenure youth system) although with Nair and South African Tom Shand both out of this weekend’s clash, they will look to Zeeshan Mumtaz and Niqash Ali to bolster the batting stocks.

On the bowling side, Terenure will be strengthened this season by the signing of Naveed Khan who will lead their seam attack - Khan is undoubtedly a huge ‘get’ for Terenure, across his 143 game career with Civil Service, he picked up 202 wickets at 21.05, however both he and their leading light for the past two seasons in Dylan Cleary are unavailable this weekend. The absence of that pair sees Benjamin Dillon and Kripesh Shetty likely to share the new ball, whilst the returning Bhavic Tukrel will add his medium pacers to the options available to Dall.

Dall will likely be the lead spinner in the side providing more than handy off-breaks. It remains to be seen who will be the second spinner in the side but Terenure have two useful options in AK Parasarthy and Kashish Gandhi whichever way they turn.

Speaking ahead of the season, Henry Dall commented as follows – “I am delighted to be returning to Terenure and to have the privilege of leading the team. We have a decent mix of youth and experience in our squad and a strong desire to give a good account of ourselves in all competitions. In my previous time with the club, we enjoyed an excellent run in the National Cup when we reached the Final before losing out to North County on the day. I am hoping we can go one better this year and bring some senior silverware back to the club.”

This weekend is a huge game for both these sides. Having to start your season with a knockout tie is never easy and it will be essential that each side hit the ground running this weekend. Janjua is the man that the Kentstown side will look to, to give them that early spark with the ball, if he can remove Mick Cotter early, there will no doubt be a few nerves in that Terenure dressing room.

Key Battle - Daneyaal Janjua vs Mick Cotter

The winner of this preliminary round fixture will host The Hills in the first round of the competition on Saturday 16th May with the full set of fixtures for that day as follows:

Terenure/Knockharley vs The Hills (Terenure/Kentstown)
Dublin University vs Railway Union (College Park)
Leinster vs Merrion (Observatory Lane)
Rush vs North County (Kenure)
Clontarf vs Malahide (Castle Avenue)
Phoenix vs Pembroke (Phoenix Park)
North Kildare vs Balbriggan (The Maws)
Civil Service vs Adamstown (Civil Service)

The LHW Financial Planning Senior Cup Final is scheduled for Saturday 1st August at Sydney Parade which will be live-streamed with full commentary on the CL YouTube channel.