The start of the new season is a time of great excitement, and while it would be an exaggeration to say that cricket followers wish their lives away, there is no doubt that from the New Year onwards, the first games of cricket are eagerly awaited. The only references to food in this blog will be to breakfasts because it is not intended to get involved in the debate regarding teas being provided or not being provided. The first games of the Sports Hub League Cup were played on 23 April, and I attended the Fingal derby at Inch between North County and The Hills. It was wonderful to catch up on all the news, and to see a fine game which was played in a very good spirit. On that occasion, the bragging rights in Fingal went to North County who won by 4 runs, and the season was off to a great start.
I decided to travel to Longford on the following day with my two travelling companions, Michael Dwyer (President of The Hills CC) and Martin Russell (Past President of The Hills CC). Martin and I usually opt for the hearty Irish breakfast, but Michael Dwyer is a person with a refined palate, and he has been known to have granola, guacamole, or avocado. We stopped in Mullingar, and we all opted for the brunch. Mick decided that he could not leave Mullingar without having his photograph taken with another legend - Joe Dolan. The Hills Seconds were playing Longford, and we saw a competitive game of cricket which resulted in a win for The Hills by 15 runs. I had a chat with the Chairperson of Longford CC who outlined to me some of the logistical difficulties involved in re-establishing cricket in Longford. The journey home was exciting for about 20 minutes because the fuel light was showing on the car; Martin Russell kept an eye out for service stations while Mick sought the necessary information on Google.
The following weekend, the cricket programme was decimated by rain, and while I was in contact with George Kitteringham, The Hills’ scorer, for updates from the Phoenix Park, I decided to stay at home and accumulate the Brownie points which are so important in the quest for planning permission to attend future games. Permission was readily forthcoming for me to attend The Hills v Malahide at The Vineyard on the Bank Holiday. An understrength Malahide team was bowled out for 88 runs, and The Hills reached the target in 19.3 overs. I met with my good friends, John, and Anna Morgan, at that game and again on the following day when the Leinster Lightning beat the North-West Warriors by 7 wickets. I talked to David Williams, the former Chairperson of Cricket Ireland and Cricket Leinster, about his experiences of playing cricket in the Fingal League with Rush.
On Saturday, Michael Dwyer and I had breakfast at Bram’s in Fairview, and then it was off to Sydney Parade again for The Hills versus Pembroke. Prior to the start of the game, I had a chat with Mrs Ada Lawson, the recently elected Diocesan President of the Mothers’ Union, Dublin, and Glendalough Dioceses and I wished her well in her new role. I watched the game with The Hills’ travelling supporters, Audrey Rooney-Murphy, Kathleen Gavin, Martin Russell, Michael Dwyer, Paschal Henchy, and Michael Gavin. We were joined during the course of the game by Jody Morgan, and we saw Lorcan Tucker hit a wonderful 116 runs, ably abetted by Diarmuid, his brother, who scored 51 runs. Pembroke finished on 269 runs for 9, and that challenging target proved to be too much for The Hills who finished on 185 runs. Over the years, spin bowlers have been the bane of Fingal cricketers’ lives, and we saw another example of it on that occasion when Donncha Tucker took 4 wickets for 20 runs.
On Sunday morning, we met for breakfast in Skerries to review the events of the previous day, and I dropped into Inch to watch part of the game between Scorchers and Dragons where a 10th wicket partnership of 57 runs between Molly Devine and Kate McEvoy set up the game. I watched the rest of that game from home on the wonderful streaming service which is provided by Heatley Tector and his team.
We were back to Sydney Parade on Tuesday, 10 May for the game between Munster Reds and the Leinster Lightning. Security had been increased for this game, and one of the more obvious consequences of it was that I had no bother in reaching the 10,000 steps target because any time that I wanted to go to the clubhouse, I had to walk around the entire ground. Also, Martin Russell’s coffee was stone-cold by the time that David O’Connor carried it from the clubhouse. We saw a great game of cricket which commenced with Munster Reds winning the toss and opting to bowl first. This did not appear to have been the wisest decision that P J Moor had ever made when the Lightning racked up 304 runs, with big contributions from Harry Tector (92), Andrew Balbirnie (62), George Dockrell (38) and Lorcan Tucker (32*). During one of the breaks in play, Billy Dwyer treated us to a very learned discourse on heavy metal bands as he outlined the merits of AC/DC, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. The fall of a wicket interrupted this discussion, but it will be continued at the next available opportunity. The Munster Reds set about the target in spectacular fashion, and P J Moor had an absolutely brilliant knock of 155 runs in which he hit 16 fours, and 8 sixes. The other batsmen to make significant contributions were Tyrone Kane (27), Curtis Campher (29), Kevin O’Brien (37), and the target was reached in 46.3 overs to give the Munster Reds a win by 5 wickets.
Due to a prior commitment on the following weekend, I was late getting to Park Avenue for Railway Union versus The Hills, and that meant that I was unable to witness Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin’s wonderful knock of 113 runs, Andy Kavanagh’s 58 runs or Mark Donegan’s 36. By the time I arrived, Jonathan Tall and Athar Farooqi, the spin twins, were weaving their magic, and it seemed that difficulties with spin bowling were not restricted to Fingal cricketers as Railway Union ended on a total of 68 runs.
With the game finishing early, and planning permission available for a longer game, I called over to Sydney Parade to see the game between Malahide and Pembroke. Pembroke had accumulated 286 runs, and a 7th wicket partnership of 67 runs between Aaron Doyle (62) and David O’Halloran (27) gave Malahide some hope, but scoreboard pressure told in the end. I met Steve McCarthy and his leg was in plaster as a result of an injury which he had sustained while he was playing golf. It appears that golf is a dangerous activity because the day that I went to Inch to watch North County and The Hills, one of the North County players was wearing a surgical boot as a result of standing in a divot on a golf course.
The next day we journeyed to Wexford to watch The Hills Seconds play Wexford Wanderers. As we passed the various sites associated with the 1798 Rebellion, snatches of Kelly the Boy from Killane, Boolavogue, and The Boys of Wexford were either recited or sung by the travelling crew. We met with Herbie Honohan who has done such brilliant work for the development of cricket in Wexford, and we talked about the difficulties of developing the club when security of tenure is an issue. As we set about the 10,000 steps, we stopped to speak to a gentleman who mentioned that his brother was a member of The Hills CC. When we were told what his brother’s name was, we were able to say that not only was Bill Stuart a member of The Hills, but he was also a Life Member. The Hills scored 173 runs and Wexford Wanderers reached the target for the loss of 8 wickets.
The highlight of the month was Mrs Maureen Byrne’s 100th Birthday Party, which was held at The Vineyard on Friday, 20 May. This was a tremendous Fingal occasion with representatives from every club in Fingal present. It was wonderful to see Mrs Byrne in such good form and to wonder at her marvellous recall of events and people. At 6 o’clock, we gathered outside the clubhouse to sing “Happy Birthday”, and then Martin Byrne led the singing of a very moving version of The Hills’ anthem, “Take me back to the Black Hills”. Michael Dwyer, President of The Hills, spoke on behalf of us all when he expressed our gratitude for the contribution which Mrs Byrne, Gerry, her late husband, and her family had made to The Hills CC. It would be very remiss of me not to mention the absolutely magnificent catering and the general organisation of an event which was so important for everyone connected with The Hills CC. As is usual on such occasions, there were also recollections of Fingal League games that had been played in the dim and distant past, and accounts of contentious Fingal League Committee meetings which sometimes ended in uproar.
On Saturday, 21 May, Martin, Michael, and I set off for Ballymagorry for the Irish Cup game between The Hills and Fox Lodge. We stopped at the Four Seasons for breakfast, and we were joined by the entire Hills’ team. We had a very pleasant chat with the players, but all the time, we are becoming more acutely aware of a very large cultural gap because when Mick mentioned to one of the players that we had passed very close to the home of Big Tom. The player’s response to this nugget of information was “who is Big Tom?” When we arrived at Ballymagorry, it seemed that the chances of getting a game of cricket played were remote, but on the positive side, we were invited to partake of scones, jam, and cream. The start was delayed so we decided to travel to Donemana where the home team was playing Cork Harlequins. We had more scones, jam, and cream, and this brought to mind a possible topic for discussion: “Compare and contrast the scones in Ballymagorry and the scones in Donemana”. We decided that this discussion would be more appropriate when we were back in Fingal. While we were at Donemana, we got a phone call to say that the toss had been taken at Fox Lodge, and the game would be starting in fifteen minutes. Fox Lodge won the toss and surprisingly opted to bat in extremely friendly bowling conditions. Dylan Blignaut took 7 wickets for 12 runs, Tomás Rooney-Murphy took 2 wickets for 12 runs, and Fox Lodge was bowled out for 29 runs. The target was achieved in 4.2 overs, and we were on the road much earlier than anticipated. The journey home was without incident apart from taking the wrong exit at Ballygawley and ending up on the road to Dungannon for a brief period. With this blog now beginning to resemble War and Peace in length, comment on the game between The Hills and Trinity will be deferred until the next instalment