A programme which guarantees that two of today's three quarter-finals of the all-Ireland knockout club competition are on offer in Dublin, as well as tomorrow's semi-finals in its Leinster equivalent event, is surely enough to ensure that the cups of cricket followers in the metropolitan area will runneth over this weekend.
In the Royal Liver Irish Senior Cup, Clontarf will face the holders Limavady at Castle Avenue, while Phoenix take on YMCA at home; in the third semi-final, Brigade are hosts to Strabane at Beechgrove.
The Irish Cricket Union, understandably, is more than happy that the all-island competition is this far advanced, in spite of the recent appalling weather; the fourth semi-final, featuring Donemana and Ballymena, will be played on July 18th. The semi-finals are set for August 8th, and the Australian Darrell Hair will stand in one of them, thus becoming the first Test umpire to officiate in Irish domestic competition. He will also be one of the umpires in the final. Coincidentally, he also umpired the ICC Trophy final in Malaysia last year, in which, unhappily, Ireland lost to Scotland, albeit narrowly.
Back to this afternoon: Clontarf face an enormous task against Limavady, who destroyed Leinster in last season's final at Beechgrove, where the ebullient Decker Curry raced to an yet another whirlwind century. While Phoenix - the only southern club to have won the Irish Senior Cup - have home advantage against YMCA, one may regret that two Dublin clubs have been drawn against each other at this stage in the competition.
In the North-West, the big game of the day is the other semi-final at Beechgrove. Brigade are having their best season in years, and have also reached the final of the North-West Senior Cup, while they are undefeated in the Senior League.
Skipper Stephen Smyth, who captained Ireland for the first time last Thursday, is enjoying a wonderful season with the bat, while spinner Ivan Nicholl is another who could make life difficult for Strabane.
Meanwhile, Ardmore and Donemana meet in the North West Senior Cup quarter-final, and in the Senior League, Eglinton, in dismal form this season and facing relegation, are at home to Bready.
In tomorrow's semi-finals of the Leinster (Conqueror) Cup, Rush are hosts to Leinster, while at Anglesea Road, Merrion and Malahide are again in opposition. Malahide obviously will be aiming for a repeat of their excellent win over Merrion in last Tuesday evening's protracted Lewis Traub League final.
Then, when their cause looked irretrievably lost, a great eighth-wicket stand by Conor Armstrong and Anton Weir delivered the goods with just three balls to spare. This time around, Merrion will have Ed Joyce back in action, as Adam Thomas stands down, while Malahide have Nick Riches back instead of Alan Brophy.
Both Rush and Leinster will be at full strength for tomorrow's other semi-final at Kenure.
