TILLAIN CUP
History
As an earlier article has described, the Alan Murray Cup (a “senior” 20 over competition) began in the 1950s. In the 1970s, the Whelan Cup for teams at Intermediate level commenced – more about that below. Most of the teams in the latter competition in its early years were third and fourth elevens. In the mid-1980s, Eddie Tillain, a regular player on Railway Union second team at that time, approached the then Junior Branch Committee (now the OCC). Having spoken with other clubs and players at this level , he felt there was interest in a 20 over competition for club second teams – what was then Senior 2 /3 level. Eddie offered to provide a trophy if the LCU was interested in running such a competition. This was agreed readily and in the 1987 season, the Tillain Cup competition commenced. At Eddie’s request, it was confined to the four Dublin 4 clubs for that year but then opened to all.
Format
The format from the outset has been twenty overs a side. Each bowler was limited to 5 overs but this has been reduced to one fifth of the total overs i.e. 4 per bowler in recent years.
Matches to date have been played on mid-week evenings and to ease travel the draw was for many years divided into Northern and Southern sections with the winners of each meeting in the final. In recent seasons this has been abandoned for an open draw. Also the possibility of a format with matches at weekends is to be considered.
For some years a “Finals Day” format was used for the T20 competitions below Senior with the Tillain, Salver and Whelan finals scheduled for a single day. This was eventually abandoned. Weather difficulties had meant that in several years it was not possible to complete the three matches on the appointed date and the problems associated with rescheduling arose. Also once the fourth competition – the Russell Court Trophy – was introduced, it made more sense to have two finals on each of two dates.
Trophy
The initial trophy was quite an unusual and attractive one – a gold coloured cup with a lid. In recent years it was realised that it had suffered quite an amount of accidental damage over the years and attempted repairs had not been very successful. Eddie Tillain replaced it with a new one which is currently in use.
Winners
In the thirty-one years of the competition to date, it has been won by twelve clubs. Clontarf lead the way with six wins closely followed by Merrion with five. Railway Union, with Eddie Tillain on the team were the first winners in 1987 but had to wait until 2006 for their second and so far only other success. On the other hand, of the clubs who have played in the competition every year since it commenced, Pembroke are the only one never to have won it.
The Present
There are fourteen League Division 3 and 4 teams in the 2018 competition, four of whom are club first elevens. Ten of these are previous winners. The final will be played together with the YMCA Salver final on Sat 21stJuly in Claremont Rd..
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YMCA SALVER
History
In 1990 YMCA C.C. celebrated what they believed at the time to be the clubs seventy fifth anniversary. It was discovered subsequently that it wasn’t but no matter. To mark the occasion they presented the Leinster Cricket Union with a trophy. Feeling that there was a gap between the Tillain and Whelan Cups which meant that some teams/players did not have a twenty over competition, they proposed that this new trophy be used there. This was done.
Trophy
Some years after the introduction of the competition, following the passing of Alex Dunlop, longstanding YM member and former President of both the Leinster and Irish Cricket Unions, the YMCA club decided to dedicate the trophy to his memory and It is normally presented at the final by a member of the Dunlop family.
The trophy is a distinctive one - a silver salver rather than the common cup. It has of course been noted on celebratory occasions since, that it holds twelve pints – full glasses that is.
Format
From the outset it has been a twenty over a side competition with a limit of five (a quarter of the total) per bowler. Matches are played on midweek evenings with the final being held with the same date and venue as the Tillain Cup. The draw is done on the basis of Northern and Southern Sections with the two winners meeting in the final.
Winners
In the twenty-eight years of the competition it has been won by fourteen clubs. Pembroke lead with four wins, all achieved in the first eleven years of the competition, while Merrion, Railway Union and The Hills each have three. Ironically, the presenters of the trophy, YMCA, have never won it.
The Present
Twenty-four teams have entered the 2018 competition of whom fifteen come from clubs that have never won the trophy. In the initial years of the competition, the final was always held in Claremont Rd. That arrangement lapsed when the “Finals Day” concept was introduced but this year it returns there.
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WHELAN CUP
History
Through the 1950s and ‘60s with the success of the Alan Murray Cup, clubs and player developed an interest in this form of the game. Noting this, in 1972 the Railway Union club in the person of their senior vice-president, Billy Whelan, introduced a second cup competition of this type. It was to be played for by teams at Intermediate level . Up until 1982 the competition was organised by the Whelan family and the Railway Union club. In 1983 it became an official Leinster Cricket Union competition.
Format
For the years up to 2018 it has been a straight knock –out competition with Northern and Southern sections and the winners of each meeting in the final. This year an experimental format has been adopted with the first two rounds scheduled for weekend dates. These would consist of three team round robin arrangements with one team progressing to the next round. Weekend matches make it easier for clubs based outside the Dublin area to take part and several are doing so. The Northern and Southern section arrangement has been maintained.
The competition had one particularly distinctive feature for many years – eight ball overs. When the competition started in 1972, eight ball overs were the norm in Southern hemisphere countries. Fifteen eight ball overs provided one hundred and twenty balls – exactly the same as twenty six ball overs. However they required fewer changeovers thus reducing the total time taken and it was felt that this would be helpful where midweek evening fixtures were involved. Although eight ball overs were abandoned in the Southern hemisphere at the end of the 1970s, they remained in the Whelan Cup for many years. Eventually it was realised that there were few if any players around who remembered them and in the interests of uniformity the competition moved to six ball overs in 2013.
While the fifteen eight ball over a side format was in place, there was a four over limit on bowlers. This meant that the maximum number of balls a bowler could bowl was thirty-two. With the change to six ball overs, this moved to five overs, thirty balls.
As described above, the experiment of playing three finals on the same date was tried for some years but discontinued. The Whelan Cup final is now held on the same date as the Russell Court final.
Winners
Teams from twenty-three different clubs have won the cup in its forty six seasons to date. The Hills, Leinster and YMCA have five wins each and Merrion and Rush each have four. The Hills were the first winners in 1972 and repeated their success the following year. The latest of their wins came in 1990.
The Present
The 2018 competition sees twenty eight contenders. Although some clubs from outside the greater Dublin area have competed in the past, this year sees five who have not done so previously. There are fifteen teams from clubs who have not won the competition to date. Both this competition and the Russell Court Trophy are very much associated with the Railway Union club and appropriately both finals are scheduled for Park Avenue on Sunday 22ndJuly.
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Russell Court Trophy
History
For the 2000 season there were just over eighty teams in Leinster competition. By 2011 this had increased to over one hundred and ten. It was straightforward enough to increase the number of league competitions. There was however an increasing interest in what was now called T20 cricket Despite having four such competitions, there were quite a number of players in the lower leagues not having the opportunity to play competitive cricket in this format. J.R.Rangan of Railway Union offered to donate a trophy for a fifth T20 competition for teams below Whelan Cup level. The offer was readily accepted and in 2012 the first Russell Court Trophy competition took place.
Format
At the outset the competition was to be based on midweek evenings as with the other T20s. As exactly twenty-four teams entered in the first year, it was decided to try to have the early rounds as a set of round robins each involving three teams but with deadline dates within which matches had to be completed and net run rate to be used where necessary. Certain difficulties arose in ensuring fixtures got played, chasing up results etc.. This made ensuring proper progress in the competition extremely difficult and for the next two years the format changed to a straight knock-out. In 2015, the OCC agreed to try the round robin approach again with a very stringent approach to fixture making and result submission and less difficulties were experienced.
In 2018 it has been decided, as with the Whelan Cup, to move the round robin rounds to weekend dates. Again this has made it easier for teams from outside the greater Dublin area to take part.
Winners
The competition has now been running for six years. Teams from Railway Union were successful in the first two seasons and AIB have won the last two. In between Laois and Dundrum took the trophy.
The Present
The 2018 competition saw twenty five teams as contenders. There had originally been twenty seven but there were a couple of last minute drop outs. Not surprisingly for this relatively new competition, the vast majority are seeking their first success.