The West's awake? Well, you'd better believe it.
The Leinster Minor Cup HAS been taken out of Dublin before, but has not been transported very far from the capital, as North Kildare, Knockbrack, Ballbriggan and The Hills captured the silverware in the past four years.
But last Saturday, at the Civil Service CC grounds in the Phoenix Park, Mayo County, captained by Pat Larkin, defeated Merrion seventh X1 by four wickets and the Minor Cup was taken on its longest journey yet, to Castlebar, in the vastnesses of Connacht. Quite an achievement, for a club which came into existence only a year ago, and a success which the county's Gaelic footballers failed to emulate at Croker, the following day.
Merrion, captained by Ray Clarke, batted first and were all out for 71 runs, hardly a winning total. Isobel Joyce scored some 20 of the total, and had she not been run out, matters might well have been rather better for Merrion.
But Mayo County got the required 72 for the loss of six wickets, and the whirlwind 30, scored in next-to-no-time by Etienne Jurgens, earned him the man-of-the-match award. Up to that lively innings, young Ms Joyce - she and her twin sister Cecilia are thought to be the first women to have played in the Minor Cup final - was well in the running for the honour until that run-out, according to Mayo's president, Johnny Mee.
Anyway, the win should help the future development of the young club, which is sponsored by Daly's Hotel of Castlebar and by Staunton's, the local sports shop. Coincidentally, Pat Larkin, the club skipper, won a Minor Cup medal before - with Civil Service, away back in 1969.
Miriam Grealey needed 53 runs to reach her 1,000 runs for the season, when she went in to bat for YMCA in the Pilkington Plate final against Clontarf at Kenure last Sunday. Her top-scoring knock of 74 brought her 21 runs past the magical figure, a truly magnificent attainment, thought to be a first in women's cricket in Leinster.
Grealey has been an outstanding all-rounder, for YMCA and Ireland, and she also picked up a brace of wickets on Sunday. Typically, she sent this writer a fax with the match scores in brief, but with no reference to her new record; thus, I am indebted to Victor Freeman, coach of the YMCA second X1, for telling me about her achievement.
With Godfrey Graham and Charles Lysaght at the helm, the Leprechauns embark on their annual tour to the south-east this weekend. They play Wexford Wanderers on Friday, take on Mount Juliet on Saturday, and the final outing is against Bagenalstown on Sunday.
The squad is being finalised at the moment, but will include the former Irish Cricket Union president, Alfie Linehan, John Whittaker and Jim Wilson. Niall McConnell, the legendary Railway Union spinner, has long been the driving force behind the Wexford club, with Tim Kavanagh and Des Foote in similar roles for Mount Juliet and Bagenalstown, respectively.
Bagenalstown's new pavilion, which was officially opened by Graham when he was president of Leprechauns, is named after Foote. The Leprechauns' final match of the season, against Cork County, will be played at The Mardyke on September 11th.
