JOE CLINTON, the honorary secretary of The Hills CC, winners of the Conqueror Cup for the second time last Saturday, has become a sort of one man cricket version of the Folklore Commission.

He has recorded interviews with virtually every major Fingal cricketer of the past, many of them since dead, and now has some 25 tapes to show for his efforts.

With this invaluable research to aid him, Clinton - who has delivered papers on the subject to several local societies - is working on a History of Fingal Cricket. That opus will be worth waiting for, and hopefully will go some way towards explaining how the game has lived on so vibrantly in this particular area of north Co Dublin.

Of course, before the advent of the GAA, cricket thrived in many rural areas throughout the country. In his superb history of Tuam Stars GFC, Proud And Upright Men, which ranks among the very best Irish sports books, Noel O'Donoghue points out that most of the founders of the club were cricketers, and for many years afterwards local sportsmen happily and successfully played both games.

Anyway. Cricket in Fingal is somewhat akin to rugby in Limerick - a game of the people. Which was very obvious at the presentation of the cup last Saturday, when men, women and children from the nearby towns and countryside were there in numbers to pay tribute to the cricketers of The Hills.

This was a scene rather akin to the aftermath of a hurling or football county championship final. And the gathering and enthusiasm was an indicator of cricket's stature in the local life of Fingal.

Until 1970, the club had had a long, though nomadic existence. Then, the late wife of its long term president and current patron, Captain Richard Wentges, gave the club its present home, set in rural splendour against a backdrop of rolling countryside and ancient trees. The clubhouse was, let's say, of a temporary nature, but all that changed utterly last year.

"We aim to invest our future in bricks and mortar", says Joe Clinton. And bricks and mortar it was, as the club members (many of them local tradesmen) built their splendid new clubhouse, with voluntary labour, in the space of seven months, to a design drawn up by architect Richard Wintges, the son of the club patron.

The result is a pavilion of which any sports club would be proud, with all the necessary facilities clustered around a fine bar, which surely enjoyed record takings last weekend. All that is owed on the development is a grant of £15,000 repayable to the Irish Cricket Union, at 5 per cent over five years.

The end result is that The Hills can field five adult teams, two women's teams and under age sides every week. Of course, it's results on the field of play which really count. This summer, the club has achieved a notable senior double - before Saturday's historic success, The Hills had already won the Leinster 50 Overs League.