Tillain Cup/YMCA Salver
Sunday next (19th July) sees the finals of two of Leinsters 20 over competitions on the Terenure ground as follows:
YMCA Salver - 1.00 pm – Merrion 4 v Mullingar 1
Tillain Cup - 4.00pm – North Kildare 1 v Pembroke 2
YMCA Salver
To mark an anniversary of their foundation in 1990, the YMCA club donated a Salver to be competed for by teams in the then Middle league. Subsequently the trophy became a memorial for the late Alex Dunlop, former distinguished member of the club and a man who had been president of both the Leinster and Irish Cricket Unions . It is now an established trophy competed for by clubs with teams in Divisions 5 – 8. As a Salver, it makes a welcome difference to cup trophies but club presidents should note that twelve pints fit on it exactly.
Despite being responsible for the trophy, YMCA have never won it being unsuccessful on three occasions.
Mullingar will no doubt be very keen for success in a competition they have never won. In fact this will be their first ever final. Merrion teams have been more successful. They have contested five finals, winning the trophy twice, most recently in 2013.
Mullingar beat Civil Service 2, Clontarf 3 and North County 3 en route to the final while Merrion, who had to contest a preliminary round, overcame Leinster 3, North Kildare 2 , Dundrum 2 and Adamstown.
Teams
Merrion : Chandra Aramalla (capt), Alan Parkinson, Anish Raghavan, Bhathal B Singh, Vikas Dhiman, Hari Ramasetty, Sainath Yelmati, Prashanth Siddireddy, Sreedhar Pendyala, Ajay Varma, Murali Raparla. Denny David (12th man).
Mullingar: E. Feely (capt), A. Yasir , D. Ryan, L. Maimba, R. Ejaz, W. O'Neill, W. Richards, A. Haider, P. Mount, T. Mount, C. Sweeney.
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Tillain Cup
The competition started in 1987, being the brainchild of Eddie Tillain of the Railway Union club. Although the Alan Murray Cup had started at Senior level some thirty years earlier, Eddie was concerned at the absence of a similar competition for second elevens. He was of course delighted to be a member of the Railway 2nds team which was successful in the competitions first year.
Since then the competition has grown from strength to strength. Being originally designed for teams in the former Senior 2 and 3 leagues, it is now competed for by clubs with teams in Divisions 3 and 4. The competition has in fact outlasted the original trophy. Following various unfortunate mishaps over various winters, Cricket Leinster was delighted to accept a new trophy from Eddie in 2012.
This year will see a new name on the trophy. Neither of the competing teams has won it in the past. For North Kildare, it is their first Tillain final while Pembroke have been runners-up on three occasions, most recently in 2010.
North Kildare have beaten Civil Service, Malahide 2 and Clontarf 2 on their route to the final while Pembroke overcame Leinster 2, Greystones and last year’s winners YMCA 2. Both semi-finals were close run affairs which each went to the last over. A repeat of either will provide good entertainment.
Teams
North Kildare: R.Neavyn (capt), M Singh, P.Ryan, I Ul-Haq, T.Satchwell, N.Vorster, L.Hofmeyer, S.Dalton, W.Ali, C.Auret, A.Chase, 12th Man B.MacNiocaill.
Pembroke: B Whaley (capt), A Carr, C Mullen, G Mcdonnell, D Hogan, S Mcdonnell, A Mays, M Byers, H Balbirnie, F Khan, JJ Garth.