STRABANE STAY ON COURSE FOR THE QUADRUPLE

Strabane stayed firmly on track in their trophy quest with two excellent back-to-back wins over the weekend. They followed up their win over Championship title rivals St Johnston by beating North County in the semi-finals to reach the decider in Cork against three times winners Rush next month.

Integral to that win was all-rounder Ryan Gallagher, who claimed four wickets as the Fingal side were bundled out for just 106. Nasir Nawaz’s fluent half century clinched an excellent victory for the Tyrone side.

“The weekend past was just simply a Carlsberg weekend for the club where everything went our way,” said Gallagher. “It all means nothing though if we don’t push on now and bring home silverware. “They were two high pressure games and the lads really stepped up and dealt with them in a professional way.

“Sunday’s semi-final was unreal, and the supporters were just magic. We really thank every one of them for making the trip and I’d say they were a few voices missing on Monday but well worth it.

“I’m no stranger to a National Cup semi-final having won the competition 11 years ago when I was with Malahide. It was a class occasion again and having bowled well helped the team chase a small total. Another 50 runs might have been twice as hard but all the lads stayed cool and held their nerves.

“The next six weeks will be the biggest, bringing its own pressure. It’s great that we are involved in fighting for four trophies. We know what the skipper wants, and hopefully we can deliver and bring success and silverware back to the Park.”

Leaders Strabane travel to Ballyspallen on Saturday looking to maintain their lead at the top of the table. One consequence of their National Cup success is a need to switch the date of the Sammy Jeffrey Shield final. 

Originally the two innings match was to be played at Ardmore starting on Friday August 17th, but will now be played the following week at the same venue. Their Sperrin Springs final against Fox Lodge was pencilled in for Thursday July 25th, but both teams have requested a date change for the decider and the NW have switched the game to Strabane Park on Friday August 9th (5.30pm).