WINS FOR MERRION, PEMBROKE, RAILWAY, MALAHIDE, LEINSTER AND BALBRIGGAN - IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE

An incredible afternoon in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League saw two games going right to the wire in Dublin 4, as Pembroke & Merrion won out. Elsewhere, there were full-point victories for each of Railway Union & Malahide, whilst both Leinster & Balbriggan were involved in relatively straight-forward run-chases.

Starting in our featured action, Merrion won the toss and elected to bowl first, finding themselves largely on the front foot early on, in spite of some quick boundaries. Mikey O'Reilly claimed the wickets of both openers, Raj Undre & Thorne Prophet, before Peter Forkin dismissed Sunil Gautam.

Cork County's number 3, Australian gloveman Josh Hartill, was intent on making the hosts work however, and shared strong stands with Donald Marakassery (22) and Brian Donnelly (26), guiding the score all the way to 170, before he himself became Forkin's second victim, falling for 66 out of 170/6. Forkin continued to spin a web, and was perhaps a bit hard-done by to finish his spell conceding 55 runs, in spite of taking 4 wickets. Tom Ford was the other successful bowler, with his ten overs seeing him produce excellent figures of 2/29.

Merrion's chase began brightly, Swapnil Modgill looking class as ever in his 30 from just 25 balls, featuring five fours and a six, however when he and Olly Mollins were both out, it was left to Seb Dijkstra and John Anderson to rebuild.

Anderson did just that, with his 59 featuring 9 boundaries and taking him 71 balls, as he dominated a stand of 104 with Dijkstra. The teenager's innings also came to an end on 59, as he was one of 4 wickets to fall in the space of just 8 runs, Nabeel Anjum causing havoc with his leg-breaks.

That, however, brought Sean Stanton and Mikey O'Reilly together, and the pair played with minimal risks, adding the 40 runs required in an unbroken 8th wicket stand to see the hosts to victory, O'Reilly finishing unbeaten on 28 in securing the result.

The first result of the game came from Inch, where Jordan Hollard's superb all-round day propelled Balbriggan to victory over North County. Hollard's 4/34 was destroyer-in-chief in bowling the hosts out for just 129, as there were also two for each of Ruan Strauss and skipper Dylan Lues, before Hollard went berserk with the bat, bludgeoning 54 in double time to see the side to a 4 wicket win inside 18 overs.

In Castle Avenue, a remarkable opening spell saw three wickets for each of Mark Tonge and Jai Moondra, as Clontarf fell to 51/7, before Kartik Joshi and Luke Thomson made 46 and 44 respectively to restore some order for the hosts. Joey Carroll's 3/11 rounded off the innings with the score on 159. Tom Johnson's 35 got the chase off to a decent start, however it was an unbroken stand between Saqib Bahadur (46) and Carroll (27) saw Leinster home with 5 wickets to spare.

Railway Union were indebted to half-centuries for Hayden Hamilton and Rob O'Brien as they ran up 240, all out in the 48th over of their innings. Jawid Oryakhil doing late damage for Rush as they ultimately restricted their hosts from a very strong position. In response, aside from a decent stand between Isaac Bird (45) and Nathan McGuire (26) it was all about the home side's bowlers, as 4/12 for Abhay Tipnis, and 3/24 for Ashil Prakash saw the Kenure men all out for 134, earning their side 25 points.

In the Phoenix Park, Malahide saw 83 from Adam Doyle the top score in their 308/5. Alan Reynolds' 44 had earlier given them a rapid start, whilst there were also runs for his opening partner, Robbie Foulkes (37) and Jeremy Martins, who continued his brilliant form with 69. Martins was to the fore once again with the ball, taking one of three '3-fors' as he, Kelvin Donnelly and Timcy Khanduja shot their hosts out for just 119, securing a comprehensive 189-run victory for The Village.

Finally, the last game to finish was in Sydney Parade, where Pembroke had to recover from 57/4 in the 12th over of their innings to post a competitive score. They did just that, as 66 from Addison Sherriff steadied proceedings, before 58 for Danny Hogan pushed the score up to 248 all out in the 48th over. James Maginnis was the pick of the Phoenix bowlers with 3/22, as there were also two wickets for each of Ben White and Sean McNicholl. Phoenix's chase started excellently, as they progressed to 91 without loss. Just 5 balls later however they had lost both openers and were forced to start again, although with George Dockrell at the crease they will always have felt in the game. Paul Lawson's spell of 2/24 in 8 overs tightened things up, and as the required run rate increased, so did the pressure on Dockrell. He became Byron McDonough's third wicket when he was 9th out, skying a catch to backward point for 79 with his team 26 short, and they got no closer as McDonough's 4th pinned Vivek Singh in front just two balls later, keeping the double-holders unbeaten and sending Sydney Parade into raptures.