Cricket: There are times in any good batsman's career when he can do no wrong. The ball is as big as a coconut to his eyes and he feels like the bowlers are intentionally aiming for the middle of his bat. Railway Union's Kenny Carroll is enjoying such a purple patch and he is filling his boots.

He scored a half-century for Ireland A recently against the MCC, he hit 54 in the Dublin Grass Machinery 45 Overs League final last week, he made 109 for his club against Bready in the Irish Senior Cup on Friday and then on Saturday plundered another 97 runs in two swashbuckling innings in the LHW 20/20 Alan Murray Cup at Rathmines.

In a remarkable display of batting from Railway, they smashed an aggregate of 423 runs in 40 overs and Carroll was to the fore in both games.

In the semi-final, the Railway captain scored 60 off just 38 balls (eight fours and one six) as his side beat North County in the bright July sunshine.

Then he made another fluent 37 off 22 balls in the final making sure they posted another massive total over 200, which ended up being 17 too many for The Hills. With the European under-23 Championships starting in Dublin tomorrow, Carroll could not be in better form. Not that he won the 20/20 Cup all on his own on Saturday. He was ably supported by the top order that all did their bit. John Anderson, in particular, did very well in the final, scoring 50 with the bat and then registering figures of two-28 off four overs with his leg-spin as The Hills needed 207 to win.

At one stage it looked like they might just do it. Shaun de Kock was going very well and The Hills were well up with the run rate of more than 10 an over.

But then Gourav Singh came on, took a wicket with his first ball and bowled four miserly overs for just 22 runs, taking three scalps in the process. It was impressive stuff from the spinner.

Earlier, The Hills had beaten a limp-looking Clontarf by six wickets in the first semi-final as Tarf were dismissed for just 135, Bryn Thomas taking five for 21. The Hills knocked off the runs with six wickets and nearly four overs to spare.

In the other semi, North County - consistently Leinster's best club side of recent years - were unable to stem the Railway flow of runs despite having three current Ireland international bowlers leading the way. Reinhardt Strydom (71) and John Mooney (42) did their best to chase 218 to win but County fell 29 runs short. The way was clear for Railway to move into the final and ultimately lift the Alan Murray Cup and continue their wonderful season to date.