Huge congratulations to the Men’s 2nd team for a fantastic win in the rain affected Senior Cup final against North County. It was a perfectly timed run chase against a very good County team who play some excellent cricket on the day.
We have another Cup Final coming up on Friday evening. The Women’s 2nd team take on Leinster 3rds in Rathmines with a 5pm start. Best of luck and I hope the Clontarf will be out in force.
On Thursday the 3rd our Women’s 1st team travel to Malahide for a Division 2 clash at 6.30pm.
On Wednesday the 4ths host Pembroke at 1pm in the Bull Ring. The 4ths are currently top of Division 8 and now we’re into the business end of the season. A win here will put them in a great position for the run in.
For the Bank Holiday weekend in the Bull Ring we have the 1st on Saturday, the 2nd’s on Sunday and the 1st’s again on Monday.
On Saturday the 1st’s will host Leinster at the slightly earlier start time of 12.30. After weeks of 20/20 this marks the return to 50 over cricket. Our Firsts are top with 7 wins from 8 games (the loss came in a refixed 20/20) and have a 45 point gap to 2nd place, but no one ever won a league in August. Leinster are a good side and have themselves hit a good run of form in recent weeks. This will be a good challenge. They follow that up on Monday when they host Cork County. The Munster men have struggled so far this season but it’s worth remembering that all teams in Division 1 deserve to be there and none should be taken lightly. Corks finish to last season in Division 2 to gain promotion gives the insight you need to the fight in the team.
Sunday see’s the 2nd’s host Merrion at 12.30. Merrion are 3rd in the league (they were most people’s tip for the top at the start) and are a very strong side. Our 2nds are bottom and they have underperformed in the league to date. Boyed by the Cup win last Sunday and with some key players coming to form at the right time we can rightly expect a good game and to see a team play to their potential.
Now to the away games.
The 6ths head up the motorway to Laois on Saturday. They had a hard weekend just falling short in the cup semi-final on Saturday and a loss to Adamstown in Mount Temple on Sunday. The trip to Laois is coming at a good time for them to bounce back. They are sitting mid table in Division 14 after getting promoted last season and with some good young players in the side and under the stewardship of captain Aido can go toe to toe with anyone in this league.
On Sunday the 5ths will replay their rained off Cup Semi-Final of last weekend (pending OCC approval). They will head back to North County in great form. Again a side with plenty of good young players coupled with accomplished experience. They were in a great position last week and will aim for a repeat, but we don’t have to tell anyone what a north county side can bring to a game. This is the game of the weekend.
On Monday the 4ths travel to Adamstown. This is a tough place to win matches, but we have to install the 4ths as favourites. Their league form (to date) has been excellent and they are the team to beat in Division 8.
Best of luck to everybody playing this weekend and especially the 2 sides in the cup, The Women’s 2nds in Friday’s final and the 5ths in Sundays Semi-Final.
Hope to see you at some games.