WINS FOR MALAHIDE, MERRION, LEINSTER & PHOENIX - SPORTSHUB PREMIER LEAGUE!

It was a moving day at the top of the SportsHub Premier League, as a loss for Balbriggan has seen them fall away from Pembroke and Merrion, whilst Leinster solidified themselves in fourth place with a victory, and Phoenix pulled themselves away from danger with a win over The Hills.

In Kenure the performance of the night and arguably the season came from Bella Armstrong, as she plundered 146* from 72 deliveries, guiding the side to 216/1 in their 20 overs, this was before an excellent spell from Julianne Morrissey showed just why she is still a feared performer at this level, taking 4/17, along with 2/10 for Aoife Brennan leading Merrion to a 117 run win and another 25 points towards their title charge.

In The Village, it was another excellent overseas performance that helped the hosts down Balbriggan in jig time. 2/19 from Haley Moore had helped Malahide restrict their visitors to 134/4 in their 20 overs, however the performance of the night was yet to come. An unbeaten 71 from Meg Thompson helped Malahide to a 7 wicket win, taking just 16 overs to hunt down the Balbriggan score, and pushing them firmly up into mid-table.

In the Phoenix Park, the hosts were indebted to 49 from Georgina Dempsey, and 24 for Zara Craig in dragging their side up to 112/9 in their 20 overs, as there were three wickets for each of Jane Maguire and Tara O'Brien for the away side. In response, only 31 from Tahlia Dunne could trouble Phoenix’s bowlers, as 3/15 from Arisha Foysal, and 2/28 for Rhea Nair helped the ‘Nix to a 12 run win.

Finally in Castle Avenue, Leinster ran out 51 run winners on DLS, as after good contributions from Karina Bell (72) and Rebecca Rolfe (38) the visitors put up 144/4 in their 17 overs. A reduction saw Clontarf needing 155 for victory, however two wickets for each of Bell, Kate Dagostino and Jenny Sparrow helped the Rathmines side to a 51 run win and solidified their spot in the top 4.