Cricket/Weekend round-up: Having been beaten in the final of the Antalis Senior Cup a couple of weeks ago, the semi-final of the LHW 20/20 Cup in July and the quarter-finals of the DGM League in May, North County blew it again on Saturday in the semi-final of the Irish Senior Cup as they were turned over by a Rush side who refused to lie down.
The champions of this competition in 2003 and 2005, County have been consistently the best club side in the country for some time but as we've seen this year, despite all their star players they are not infallible.
Rush beat them in the DGM League quarter-final but to be fair to County they were missing Andre Botha, Paul Mooney, John Mooney and Paddy Martin that day. Not so on Saturday. They even had Middlesex batsman Eoin Morgan playing to bolster up the middle order, a fact that will make this win all the more sweet for Rush.
Having lost the toss, Rush were put in to bat and struggled early on at 20 for 1 off 12 overs with William Porterfield back in the pavilion and Paul Mooney and Reinhardt Strydom bowling very well. But Brían O'Rourke and then Michael Donnelly batted very well in trying circumstances to set a competitive total.
O'Rourke fell in the 40th over, just two short of a century, in an innings that lasted 120 balls and Donnelly then took up the mantle, hitting a vital 80 towards the end to bring the home side up to 272 for 6 off their 50 overs.
In reply, North County never really looked like getting them. At one stage they were 18 for 4 with two wickets for Shahid Iqbal, one for Naseer Shoukat and a crucial run out of Botha. Strydom and Morgan put on 100 or so for the fifth wicket but once Morgan holed out to Niall Mullen at deep midwicket for 39 it was really all over for North County.
Over in Park Avenue, Railway Union were easily accounting for Phoenix in the other semi-final. Gary Black made the early breakthrough for Railway, removing Jason Molins caught behind. After that it was a procession of Phoenix batsman back to the dressingroom and they were eventually all out for 79. Having bowled and fielded very well, Railway's top-order batsmen then did the business, knocking off the runs in 19.1 overs with the loss of just one wicket, Kenny Carroll top-scoring with 42.
Neither Railway nor Rush have won this competition, although both have been beaten finalists in the recent past. The final is scheduled for Friday, September 1st at Castle Avenue although Railway will be making an application to have it moved to the following day.
IRISH SENIOR CUP (semi-finals) At Kenure: Rush 272 for 6, 50 overs (B O'Rourke 98, M Donnelly 80; C Garry 2-27) North County 213 all out, 44.2 overs (R Strydom 67, P Mooney 55, E Morgan 39; M Donnelly 3-47, S Iqbal 2-13, N Shoukat 2-50) Rush won by 59 runs. At Park Avenue: Phoenix 89 all out, 35.5 overs (D Ford 32; K O'Brien 4-17, G Singh 2-25, G Black 2-28) Railway Union 90 for 1, 19.1 overs (K Carroll 42, G Carroll 26 not out, K O'Brien 17 not out) Railway Union won by 9 wickets.
