The Hills will host Lisburn in the next round of the Irish Senior Cup.

The game will be played at The Vineyard on July 17th.

The other quarter finals are as follows;

 • Balbriggan v Phoenix
  • Pembroke v CIYMS
  • Clontarf v Leinster

The numbers drawn in The Lotto last evening were;

19, 22, 25 & 28

There was no winner of The Jackpot.

Lucky Dip winners were Kathleen Gavin & Niamh Murray, €25.00 each

The Jackpot next week will be €4,150.00.

Many thanks to Michael Dwyer Electrical for the continued sponsorship.

Great to see 9 Hills players representing Fingal U13’s v Cork County in The Mardyke on Monday. The players were Alan Courell, Billy Kelly, Brandon Vincenzo, Conor Donoghue, Daniel Adderley, Hayden Clinton (c), Joseph Russell, Tristan Vincenzo, Tom Hurley.

Fingal 171-8, 25 overs(Ryan Keenan 36, Hayden Clinton 32, Joe Russell 26, Akshat Sudhaharan 20no)

Cork County 126-8, 25 overs(Cillian Ross 40, Abbas Faizi 31*, Tom Hurley 4-11, Brandon Vincenzo 2-5, Billy Kelly1-8) Fingal won by 45 runs

Well done lads.

Calling all members … we need your help….grab your gear before it goes !!!
The Club needs to clear the cabin and green container at the back of the Clubhouse. The
ambition is to turn the cabin into additional storage for kitchen and bar supplies, a shelved
kit room and an office for the Club Coach.

A band of volunteers has been assembled for Monday 27th June to load a skip. So…if you
have left something in either of these areas that you really need, then grab it now before
this weekend to be sure it doesn’t depart in the skip. We will be sorting through the items
this week but if we don’t know its yours or that you need it, then please understand it will
be leaving the Vineyard. Remember deadline for removing items is Sunday 26th June.

19 June 2022   

Third Man

The Cork County Cricket Club’s players and officers were very welcome visitors to The Vineyard on Sunday for the second -round Irish Senior Cup clash against The Hills. The Hills won the toss, batted first, and lost a wicket with only 8 runs on the board, but Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin (68) and Athar Farooqi (27) overcame this set-back and combined for a commendable partnership of 74 runs which ended when Farooqi was victim of an unusual dismissal – hit his own wicket. McLoughlin-Gavin and Mark Donegan brought the score up to 150 runs, and it was evident that Cork County would be chasing a very big score. Mark Donegan batted brilliantly for his maiden senior century, and at the close of The Hills’ innings, he was 127*.  Until very recently, centuries for Hills’ players were a rare commodity, but already this season, five centuries have been scored, and it is heartening to see that the players no longer have a mindset that a “good” 30 or 40 runs is a satisfactory return for their innings.  Levon Shields (24) and Bhavesh Lakhotia (24) also contributed to The Hills’ innings total of 293 runs for 6 wickets.

At a very pleasant ceremony during the interval between innings, Mortimer Kelleher, President of Cork County CC, thanked The Hills Cricket Club for the warmth of its welcome, congratulated The Hills’ Catering Committee on the excellence of the “teas”, especially the scones which were made by a lady from Douglas, and he presented The Hills with a framed photograph of the great Sir Garfield Sobers. Bobby Swarbrigg, President-Elect of The Hills CC, thanked Mortimer Kelleher for his kind words, and he reciprocated by presenting a Hills 50^th Anniversary Tie and a book. David Griffin, President of Cricket Ireland, was present at the game, and he also received a tie to mark his visit to The Vineyard.

Cork County made a steady start to its innings, and first wicket did not fall until the score was 31 runs, but another wicket fell after only 1 more run had been added with the result that Cork County was on the back foot with two of its more able batsmen (Ross Durity and Cormac Hassett) dismissed. Unlike the previous day when The Hills’ fielding fell below its usual high standards, on this occasion, the fielding was superb. Cormac McLoughlin took a smart catch at slip, Athar Farooqi had a caught and bowled, and Dylan Blignaut took two tremendous catches. Athar Farooqi was the bowling star on the day, with 5 wickets for 16 runs, while Tomás Rooney-Murphy, Matthew Weldon, Asad Farooqi and Bhavesh Lakhotia took one wicket each. Cork County’s final score was 88 runs, and that gave The Hills a victory margin of 205 runs.

It was heartening for The Hills to have a positive result after the defeat on Saturday, and it can now hope for a favourable draw in the next round of the Irish Senior Cup. It’s back to league action on Saturday next when The Hills will visit YMCA at Claremont Road. Until then, its onwards and upwards.

Come and enjoy a wonderful day out for friends, family or work colleagues by sponsoring one of the remaining premier league home matches of the season.

Sponsorship package includes special ‘Vineyard’ afternoon tea including wine for 10 guests.

Dates available are July 9^th Vs YMCA, August 13^th Vs Merrion, September 3^rd Vs Malahide, September 10^th Vs Clontarf.

For further details contact:

Remember….. ‘first up best dressed’ …so if you want your pick of the matches you need to be fast !!!

chairperson.thehillscc@gmail.com

18th June 2022      

Third Man

The visit of Pembroke, the newly crowned League Cup champions, to The Vineyard was eagerly awaited as The Hills sought to continue its unbeaten league run. Pembroke won the toss; chose to bat first and lost 3 wickets for 26 runs, with Matthew Weldon and Dylan Blignaut being the successful bowlers. A stand of 126 runs between Theo Lawson and Poonish Mehta threatened to bat The Hills out of the game completely, but Blignaut returned to the attack, and clean-bowled Lawson. The next two wickets fell for 41 runs, and at 193 runs for 7 wickets, The Hills sensed the possibility of keeping Pembroke’s score below 250 runs, but Paul Lawson (34) and Mehta (144*) brought the Pembroke score up to the very daunting total of 282 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.

This was not one of the better Hills’ bowling displays and conceding 89 runs for the 7^th wicket partnership changed the complexion of the game completely. Allied to a less than competent bowling performance, the fielding was well below the standard which would be expected of a Premier League team. Mehta batted brilliantly, but he was dropped when his score was in the mid-60s; Theo Lawson was also dropped, and the ground fielding left a lot to be desired. However, cricket is a game of two innings, and the more optimistic Hills’ supporters suggested that with a perfect batting wicket, and a lightning-fast outfield, the Pembroke score was only slightly above par.

Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin has been in a rich vein of form, but he was unlucky to pick out a fielder when he had only scored 9 runs. Andy Kavanagh (18) was clean bowled by Mehta; Dylan Blignaut suffered a similar fate, and the prospect of The Hills even making a game of it seemed to be remote. A partnership of 63 runs between Mark Donegan (51) and Athar Farooqi (28) gave The Hills a modicum of hope, but the required run-rate was climbing, and risky shots became the order of the day. Donegan batted beautifully for his 51 runs but was caught on the boundary by Robin Kelly. Levon Shields scored 46 runs; Tomás Rooney-Murphy scored 26 and the eighth wicket fell in the 41^st over with The Hills on 209 runs. William Archer came into this crisis situation, and to add to his difficulties, he was batting with a runner because he had been injured while fielding. It is one of the anomalies of cricket that injured batsmen bat better when they only have to concentrate on hitting the ball, with running between the wickets being delegated to another person. William played very well for his 39 runs and his wicket was taken when the score was 237. Ashad Farooqi (9) and Matthew Weldon (10) brought The Hills’ score up to 260, and this left Pembroke the winners by 22 runs.  

This was one of the games when supporters and players of The Hills talk about what might have been. A margin of only 22 runs shows that The Hills were always in the game with a chance of winning, but a much more clinical attitude to bowling and fielding is required if the team is to beat the top teams as distinct from giving them a good game. It is certain that the less than satisfactory aspects of the performance will be addressed by the coach and the captain, and an immediate opportunity existed to rectify these matters with the visit of  Cork County to the Vineyard for the Irish Senior Cup game. Until then, it is onwards and upwards.

Team on the day: Clodagh O’Connor, Aimee Scollard, Tara O’Brien, Molly Butterly, Vanessa Scollard, Ceola Brophy, Ella Fagan, Rebecca Campion, Genevieve Treacy, Caoimhe Emmett, Lucy Butterly.

We met our match today when we travelled out to Rathmines to play a strong Leinster side. Clodagh O’Connor the Captain on the day won the toss and decided to field first. Tara O’Brien opened the bowling with tremendous accuracy getting her first two wickets on the first two balls, her first wicket was caught by Ceola Brophy at square leg and her second wicket was caught on the boundary by Aimee Scollard. It was clear at this stage that the junior girls listened to their coach Jeremy Bray the night before as they practiced high catching and fielding drills. The fielding was extremely tight all round with plenty of 4’s being saved on the boundary. Leinster made 124 runs in total.

Best bowling figures on the day;

Tara O’Brien 3-12-4

Molly Butterly 1-32-4

Vanessa Scollard 1-16-3

Ceola Brophy 0-10-2

The Hills retaliated with great speed, working hard from the start taking every available run. Highest runs on the day were Aimee Scollard as she retired at 34, she had hit with great power in her shots and herself and Vanessa Scollard (17 not out) brought the score up by 51. Ella Fagan who opened on the day made a lovely 11 runs whilst Tara O’Brien made 17 before being caught. Molly Butterly made 5 but unfortunately was bowled by Leah. The Hills finished on 110 runs, only 14 runs shy, it was a fabulous performance by each and everyone on the team. Wicket keeping on the day was excellent by Clodagh O’Connor and switched to Aimee Scollard at the half way stage, both wicket keepers did a great job behind the stumps, well done girls!

A big thanks to the Leinster umpire/coach Jenny who umpired the second half alone as I retired due to sickness. A big thanks to the Leinster scorer who took over the job on her own for the second half.

Thanks to all the Leinster girls for a great game of cricket and we look forward to meeting you again in The Hills in the future. Thanks to the junior girls coach Jeremy Bray and Robyn Searle for all their fabulous coaching throughout the week.