WINS FOR NORTH COUNTY, PEMBROKE, MERRION, BALBRIGGAN, PHOENIX AND LEINSTER - IBI PREMIER LEAGUE!

An action packed day in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League this afternoon saw victories for North County, Pembroke, Merrion, Balbriggan, Phoenix and Leinster, as the shape of the top 6 begins to look even more certain.

Kicking off with our featured action in Castle Avenue, Clontarf batted first and with a new-look opening pair of Sam Morgan and Mitchell Thompson striding to the middle were changing a formula that had been so successful since the arrival of Séamus Lynch at the start of last season.

8 balls later, there was a more familiar look to proceedings, as Sam Morgan was out for a duck, and the Lynch/Thompson partnership was allowed to go about it's usual work. That was until Thompson was dismissed in somewhat controversial circumstances to leave the hosts 15/2.

'Moose' was joined by David Delany, and the pair built steadily, driving and tucking the ball until the introduction of Alan Joseph Mathew to the attack was the catalyst for a change of gear by Lynch. He bludgeoned four boundaries off the off-spinner to pass his half-century before nicking behind off Lochie Hardy for 57.

David Delany was joined by brother Eoghan and combined for the biggest partnership of the innings, adding 136 in the next 20 overs, and seeing the left-hander pass three figures for the first time this season in the process. When Eoghan Delany was dismissed for 42, David found a different gear and began finding the boundary almost at will.

He added a further 40 in quick time with Fionn Hand, before dominating through the next 50 runs, eventually dismissed for an excellent 172 from just 145 deliveries off the second last ball of the innings. Reuben Wilson hit the biggest six of the day to finish the innings on 338/7 from their 50 overs.

A wicket which had showed absolutely no demons so far meant North County held no fear heading into the chase, and Lochie Hardy saw to getting the side off to a flying start. He found the rope 8 times in his 39-ball 44 in an opening stand of 89 with Suliman Safi, before deflecting a short ball from David Delany down onto his stumps.

Safi was in attacking mood too, and the wicket of Hardy saw him flicking a switch and moving into overdrive. He shared a stand of 107 with Jamie Grassi, in the process bringing up a fine century before being dismissed for 111 from just 91 deliveries, including 16 boundaries and three maximums, a brilliant innings which put County in the box seat.

His wicket however brought the languid left-hander John Devane to the crease, and as ever he was busy from the outset, as himself and Grassi ran hard between the wickets, and picked up boundaries at important times to keep the side ahead of the run rate.

As the finish line came closer, the pair simply accelerated further and further, and when Devane pulled to the rope in the 47th over, they had added a sublime stand of 143 for the 3rd wicket, in securing an 8 wicket victory with 20 balls to spare, with both batters finishing unbeaten on 78, gaining County 24 points.

Elsewhere, Malahide were dealt a major blow, as Phoenix both Sean McNicholl and George Dockrell claimed 3/21, accompanied by 2/24 for Amish Sidhu shooting The Village out for just 150. 30s for skipper Shane Getkate and Tyrone Kane guided the Park side to victory inside 28 overs with 5 wickets to spare.

In Sydney Parade, 6/35 for Addison Sherriff was the key to a short day for Pembroke, as they bowled Civil Service out for 177 in spite of an unbeaten 60 for Hedayat Khogiani. Paul Lawson was also in the wickets once again, claiming 3/26 as the hosts had their opponents all out in just 31.5 overs. 46 for Macdara Cosgrave was the top score, whilst there were 30s for Sherriff and JJ Garth and an unbeaten 41 for Jack Tector in guiding the hosts to a 6-wicket victory.

In Kenure, Corne Botha made it back-to-back five-fors as he claimed 5/30 for Merrion in rolling their hosts over for just 120. There were also two wickets each for Sean Stanton and Mikey O'Reilly as Merrion were dominant with the ball once again. 45 for Raj Undre and 35 for Stephen Doheny ensured there wasn't too much fuss in a 6-wicket win inside 21 overs.

In Balbriggan, Chris de Freitas' 74, accompanied by 44 for Kai Curran, helped Balbriggan to a 4 wicket win with more than 10 overs to spare over Cork County. The hosts however were once again indebted to 5/46 for Jordan Hollard, supported by 3/26 for Andy Darroch and 2/47 for Ruan Strauss in bowling the visitors out for just 200 inside 40 overs.

Finally in Park Avenue, Railway Union saw 60s for each of Abhay Tipnis and Hayden Hamilton helping them to a decent score of 252/9 in their 50 overs. Three wickets apiece for Saqib Bahadur and Kaustabh Apsunde helping Leinster contain matters. It wasn't enough however as the Rathmines outfit saw runs for Monil Patel (84), overseas player Tom O'Connor (58) and in-form 2nd Team opener Sanith Poojray (44) guiding them to a 3 wicket win with a couple of overs to spare!