WINS FOR RAILWAY, MERRION, RUSH, BALBRIGGAN, LEINSTER AND PEMBROKE - IBI PREMIER LEAGUE! (25.07)

The IBI Corporate Finance Premier League initial phase came to a close this afternoon, with wins for Railway Union, Merrion, Rush, Balbriggan, Leinster and leaders Pembroke, as Railway Union claimed their slot in the Premier League for the remainder of the season with their win in the Game of the Day.

Kicking off in Park Avenue, unfortunately the game was marred by a nasty injury to Abhay Tipnis during the second innings, which caused a lengthy delay, we wish Abhay all the best with his recovery and hope to see him back on the field before too long.

Railway Union batted first on a wicket which offered plenty for the bowlers should they be patient enough to keep the ball in the right areas, which ultimately saw the demise of both Rob O'Brien and Hayden Hamilton early in the piece. Bruce Whaley was the aggressor in the PowerPlay, however when he was out for 46, the score was just 62 and Railway needed to rebuild.

Philippe le Roux and Abhay Tipnis rotated the strike well, and found the boundary regularly in a stand of 89 over the next 22 overs, gradually wearing down the Malahide bowlers and teeing up a good platform for the side to work from going into the last 15 overs. Le Roux fell for 47 to an excellent Andrew Sheridan catch at point, bringing Lotli Sesele to the crease. He added 35 alongside Tipnis before the number five was dismissed for a fine 60 coming from 76 deliveries.

Liam McCarthy came and went, however Sesele and Ashil Prakash added a further 28 before 'Lotli' was dismissed for a boundary-laden 42 from just 28 deliveries. The innings petered out, with just 21 more runs added for the final three wickets, as excellent comeback spells form Jeremy Martins and James Newland saw them claiming 3/43 and 4/47 respectively, restricting Railway to 245 all out in the final over.

An excellent opening spell from Liam McCarthy built plenty of pressure from the outset, as Sumit Kumar took full advantage at the other end, firstly seeing Bruce Whaley take a quite brilliant catch up to the stumps to dismiss Robbie Foulkes, before inducing a false shot from Adam Doyle just three balls later to see Malahide 22/2. McCarthy's spell finally got it's rewards when he rearranged Timcy Khanduja's stumps to put the hosts well on top.

Greg Ford and Jeremy Martins added 73 for the fourth wicket, before Ford was dismissed for 33, however Martins was proving to be a tough nut to crack, and began to build another strong stand with David O'Halloran. They had moved the score to 157, before Martins was clean-bowled by Abhay Tipnis for a well-compiled 55. When O'Halloran followed 12 runs later, The Village were 169/6 and right on the back foot.

Sean O'Brien returned to the attack for his second spell wicketless, and finished as the pick of the bowlers, knocking over Sheridan, Langan, Newland and Aaron Doyle to claim figures of 4/35 and ensure an 18-run win for the hosts, securing their Premier League slot post-split for the second season in a row.

Across the road in Sydney Parade, there was the shortest game of the afternoon, Pembroke only allowing Eddie Richardson to pass 30 as they shot North County out for just 142, Gavin Hoey the pick of the bowlers claiming 3/29 whilst there were two apiece for Paul Lawson, Dan Murray and Addison Sherriff. The chase was straightforward, Tim Tector unbeaten on 86, with Macdara Cosgrave also not out, making 37, in a 9 wicket victory for the hosts.

In The Mardyke, 30s for Donald Marakassery, Zubair Khan and Nabeel Anjum guided Cork County to 224 all out in 47.2 overs, with Bilal Azhar the pick of the bowlers, claiming 4/46, whilst there were two and three apiece for Saqib Bahadur and Monil Patel. Luke Horgan then stole the show in the second innings, making an unbeaten 126, supported by Patel who was also not out on 67, in securing a 9 wicket victory and 25 points for the visitors.

In Jack Harper Park, Balbriggan made 208 all out in 44.1 overs thanks to 40s for Kai Curran and Seb de Oliveira, as David Delany claimed 3/36 and there were two apiece for Mitchell Thompson, Fionn Hand and Ethan Marshall. Clontarf's reply was always slightly behind the 8-ball, as they lost early wickets to Ruan Strauss (3/41), before Andy Darroch and Dylan Lues ran through the middle order, claiming 2/23 and 3/29 respectively in knocking 'Tarf over for 158 and claiming a 50 run victory to keep the heat on Pembroke at the top of the table.

In Kenure, Rush batted first and ran up 339/7 in their 50 overs thanks to 86 from Abid Taniwal, 61 for new skipper Jack McGee, 43 for Alex Neary and 30s for Finn McGee and Hashir Sultan as only Zaman Safi (3/72) provided any decent resistance for Civil Service with the ball. In response, Civil Service could manage 255 all out inside 40 overs, with Arjun Chandrasekar making 95, as there were three-fors for each of Allan Eastwood and Nasir Totakhil, as well as 2/38 for Neary in securing an 84 run win for the hosts, as they claimed their first win of the season after 11 games of toil.

Finally in Anglesea Road, Phoenix made 235 all out thanks primarily to Raghav Grover's 61, supported by 24 apiece for Amish Sidhu and Aadil Naizam. For Merrion there were three wickets each for leggy Seb Dijkstra and left-armer Mikey O'Reilly, as well as 2/53 for Andy Doheny. In response, Swapnil Modgill once again got a good start, making 35 from 31 balls including 8 boundaries, before a stand of 130 between Stephen Doheny and Raj Undre in essence put the game to bed for the home side. Doheny was dismissed for 63, however Undre continued relentlessly to finish unbeaten on 105 from just 90 deliveries, securing a 7-wicket win with more than 12 overs to spare.

This means that the Premier League is confirmed as Pembroke, Balbriggan, Merrion, Leinster, Malahide & Railway Union for the remainder of the season.

Meanwhile, the Championship will be made up of Phoenix, Clontarf, North County, Cork County, Civil Service & Rush.