Derriaghy professional Patrick Kruger produced a player of the match performance to guide his side to National Cup glory, beating NCU Premier League rivals Cliftonville Academy by four wickets in Sunday’s final at The Lawn.

Kruger finished 51 not out after taking four wickets as Derriaghy reached their revised target for 139 in 30 overs with nine balls to spare.

Cliftonville Academy, appearing in the decider just five years after the two teams merged - like Leinster the previous day - decided to bat first despite the forecast of wet weather but unlike the victorious Dublin side in the Irish Cup final, it came back to haunt them.

They had to bowl with a wet ball after a 35-minute interruption in the second innings and Abhishek Raut dropped the chance to dismiss Kruger with Derriaghy still 19 runs short of the winning post. That would have left the Queensway side on 120 for six and having failed to close out matches from winning positions earlier in the season the nerves could have set in.

Ugly scenes on the boundary threatened to put a dampener on the occasion when Derriaghy supporters clashed with a fielder as he retrieved the ball after a Craig Lewis six, but although the long-serving all-rounder calmed the situation by walking to the boundary and talking to the spectators, he was caught next ball on the boundary at long-on by Jared Wilson.

If Raut had been caught in McCord’s next over, the force would have been with Cliftonville Academy but Derriaghy limped over the line to become the first NCU side to lift the Cup since Carrickfergus in 2014 and avenge their own defeat by Malahide the previous year, when Lewis was on the losing side.

The Cliftonville Academy innings never gained any momentum – after it was interrupted for almost two hours  by the first rain during the match and they could add only 74 runs in the remaining 21 overs before they were bowled out with four balls unused.

Just before the break a superb throw by Jordan Wade ran out Wilson – top scorer in the semi-final - for just 15 and when Raut ran down the pitch at Kruger and could only edge the ball to keeper Jamie Magowan, Derriaghy were on top.

Varun Chopra ended up as top scorer and stayed until the 35^th over, facing 50 balls but Lewis took the last three wickets in six balls to give Derriaghy the advantage at halfway.

Two superb catches by Wilson and McCord to dismiss Ross Bailey and Sam Gordon were followed by a double strike by Ben Kane to send back Matthew Halliday and Magowan before the rain arrived. It was to be a decisive break.

Ireland Women’s Assistant coach Glen Querl has been promoted to the head coach’s role as a development opportunity for the three-match T20 series against Netherlands this week in Amsterdam The first match is on Monday and Amy Hunter and Cara Murray are in a full-strength Irish squad.