Low scores were the order of the day in the first round of the Leinster Senior Cup.
Holders Pembroke are safely through after a crushing 10-wicket win against a hapless Terenure. Nicholas Stapleton had the remarkable figures of 8 for 8 - including a hat-trick of lbw's! His superb figures saw Terenure skittled for 35 - Piyush Sharma and Barry McCarthy the other successful bowlers.
Diarmuid Tucker's unbeaten 28 saw the target passed without loss in just the 6th over on a day to forget for the visitors.
The Hills made light work of a Dublin University side that would have gone into the game with a degree of confidence after four early season wins in the T20 Cup. The students were bundled out for just 76 with wickets for Nicolaj Laegsgaard 3-7, Jonathan Tall 2-9, and Matthew Weldon 2-15.
They did lose two wickets chasing their modest total, but 20s from Bhavesh Lakhotia and Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin sealed the bloodless win.
It was the Eddie Richardson and Simi Singh show as North County overpowered North Kildare to win easily by 8 wickets. Richardson took 6 for 36 and Singh 3/46 as Kildare were dismissed for 136. Sayed Shah hit 4 sixes in an entertaining knock but there was little else.
Singh then shared stands of 63 for the second wicket with John Devane (28) and 70 for the third with Richardson (47*). Singh cleared the ropes four times in his unbeaten 50, while Richardson's undefeated 47 came from 36 deliveries (6 fours, 2 sixes).
There was another one-sided contest as Civil Service were bowled out for 117 - three wickets for Jarred Barnes.
The Rush opening pair of Neil Rock and Llew Johnson both scored 50s in the easiest of wins.
Leinster won a battle of attrition in a low-scoring match at Claremont Road. The Rathmines side struggled to 118 in 47 overs with 20's From Patrick Lynch and Saqib Bahadhur.
It may not have looked many but it proved more than enough as YM could only muster 72. Four wickets for Bahadhur and two apiece for Joey Carroll and Jai Moondra in a 46-run win.
Railway edged out Merrion by 1 wicket in the game of the day. Swapnill Modgill (44), Sam Harbinson (27) and Dom Joyce (26) took Merrion to 119 for 3 before wickets for Maan (4-13), Zaman (3-19) and Sean O'Brien (2-24) saw them lose 7 wickets for 14 to slump to 133 all out.
Railway's chase was in control thanks to Kenny Carroll (44) and Brandon Kruger (30) who added 60 for the 4th wicket and it looked a foregone conclusion at 88 for 3. However, they had a collapse of their own as Sinan (3-26), Harbinson (3-31) and Tom Stanton (2-23) reduced them to 116 for 9, needing 18. They got them with Nitin Mehta (17*) and Esmat Ibrahimi (5*) holding their nerve in a tense finale.
Hunter Kindley's unbeaten 86 spearheaded an impressive 260-run chase by Malahide in the Fingal derby at home to Balbriggan. Their pursuit was given a flying start by Younas Ahmadzai (57) and Jamie Grassi (24), who added 74 in the first 7.4 overs. Ali Frost (27) also kept the board ticking, and Kindley and Matty Ford (47*) brought home the bacon in an unbroken fourth wicket stand of 96.
Earlier Conor Fletcher had cleared the ropes four times in a top-score of 53, while there was also a half century for Farooq Nasr. Peter Chase took three wickets, while there were a brace each for Ali Frost and James Newland.
Eoghan Delany's 67 was the glue that held Clontarf together in a total of 224. He shared stands of 50 with Ruan Cronje (23) and 80 with John MCNally (43), while there were also vital runs from Aaron McGeehan (42). Danish international Oliver Hald took 5 for 36, while there were two apiece for Irish internationals Tyrone Kane and Ben White.
Several Phoenix batters got starts with runs for Levon Shields 34, James Maginnis 30, Tyron Kane 29, and Jed Wiggins 27. However, the visitors teenage seamer Liam Gilhooly took advantage of his promotion up the ranks to claim four wickets to be the Castle Avenue hero in their 35-run win.
The draw was made for the quarter-finals and it is as follows:
- The Hills v Pembroke
- North County v Leinster
- Railway Union v Rush
- Malahide v Clontarf
The matches will be played on Saturday June 11th.