History was made yesterday when, for the first time ever, The Hills fielded 11 youth players in an adult senior game. Opponents on the day were Balbriggan Fifth X1 and the T20 cup match was played at Ringcommons CC. A minutes silence was observed to honour Frances Harper of Balbriggan CC who passed away yesterday.

Captain for the day Joseph Russell won the toss and elected to bat first. The Hills innings got off to the worst possible start with two wickets falling in the first 3 balls. Joseph and Hayden Clinton steadied the ship and batted sensibly to build a partnership of 87 runs in 14 overs before Hayden departed for 20 having punished any loose bowling.
Joseph scored his first senior half century, carrying his bat to end on a chanceless 60 not out. A cameo of 12 by Peter Stead helped to set Balbriggan a tough target of 132 to win.

The Balbriggan openers started well before a mix up resulted in a well-executed run out. The Hills bowlers then got on top and leg spinner Tristan Vincenzo bowled exceptionally well to take 4-9 off 3 overs. The other wickets were shared between Alan Courell jr (1-17), Chris Francis (2-2), Max Brophy (1-6) and Max Stead (1-15).
Balbriggan were bowled out for 58 resulting in a 73 run win for The Hills.

This was a strong and mature performance from a team with an average age of 14. It will be exciting to watch these players filter into the 4th, 3rds, 2nds and 1sts over the next few seasons.
Next up is another T20 cup match, this time away to Swords on Sunday 19th at 5pm.

Photo by Michael Donoghue
Team: Joseph Russell (c), Max Brophy, Hayden Clinton, Alan Courell jr, Conor Donoghue, Chris Francis, Nathan Maguire, Peter Stead, Max Stead, Tristan Vincenzo, Brandon Vincenzo

Third Man

With Saturday being a closed day for Premier League cricket, the second series of games in the IBI Corporate Finance League were played on Sunday. Fresh from last week’s comprehensive win over Malahide, The Hills welcomed Phoenix to The Vineyard; the home team won the toss and chose to bat first. An opening stand of 85 runs between Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Andrew Kavanagh (24) more than vindicated that decision. The second wicket partnership between Cormac and Dylan Blignaut (66) added 130 runs to the score, and a total somewhere in excess of 300 runs did not appear to be an unrealistic expectation. However, from the fall of the second wicket onwards, Phoenix began to take wickets on a regular basis, and The Hills ended on 291 for 7 wickets. Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin was the undoubted star for The Hills, and his  score of 134 runs was just reward for a supremely dedicated cricketer.

Phoenix’s reply had a disastrous start with the first wicket falling to Dylan Blignaut when there was only 1 run on the board, and Dylan took the second wicket when only 18 runs had been scored. The third wicket was taken by Matthew Weldon when Phoenix had scored 45 runs, and six wickets had fallen before the 25 overs mark. At that stage, it appeared that The Hills would wrap up the game very quickly and that it was only going to be a formality to collect another 25 points. At that stage, the lower-order Phoenix batsmen decided that attack was the best form of defence, and the fight back caused some anxiety among the home supporters.  Oliver Hald’s wicket was the seventh one to fall, and this was due to a brilliant catch by Dylan Blignaut off the bowling of Athar Farooqi. An eighty-one-run partnership between Theo Dempsey (19) and Conor Shiel (58) brough the Phoenix score up to 214, and a number of rain delays added to the general tension. After the final stoppage for rain, The Hills’ bowing attack of Weldon, Tomás Rooney-Murphy and Levon Shields showed commendable composure, and the last two Phoenix wickets were taken for 6 runs to leave The Hills with a victory margin of 67 runs.

Levon Shields was the most successful bowler for The Hills; he took 3 wickets for 39 runs and capped off his performance with a superb catch at mid-wicket. Athar Farooqi continues to impress, and his 2 wickets for 29 runs included a caught and bowled. The ever-reliable Dylan Blignaut took 2 wickets for 55 runs, and the other wickets were taken by Matthew Weldon (1 for 51) and Tomás Rooney-Murphy (1 for 18). Mark Donegan is in a superb vein of form behind the stumps; he did not concede a single bye, and he had one catch and one stumping.

With two successive wins, The Hills have had a wonderful start to its league campaign, and the team has a two games next weekend. On Saturday, Pembroke, the winners of the Sports Hub League Cup will be the visitors to The Vineyard, and Cork County will provide the opposition in the second-round tie in the Irish Senior Cup on Sunday. Until then, it is onwards and upwards.

North Kildare Minor B 76-6 (Nett 46) Lost to Hills Minor B Red 128-4 (Nett 108). On a day where fishing boats would refuse to leave harbour, The Hills were not perturbed by the remnants of Storm Alex’s strong westerlies. Losing the toss but getting your wish to bat first is a skill that Hills Captain Chandrahas would do well to keep in the years ahead. The strong westerly wind meant the North Kildare bowlers teased the Hills openers with balls that moved like a Ronaldo freekick. Settling in to the task, the Hills pairs scored as follows Tom Jackson & James Davies 25-1, Daniel Adderley & Chandrahas Chellagurki 18-1, Jarlath & Elliott Clinton 20-1, Cillian Fogarty & Sam Clinton 32-0 and Leo Russell & Ryan Clinton 33-1. With extras bringing the Hills total to 128 for 4 wickets, a challenging total for the home side was set. Shreyas Chellagurki and Aram Akbar both batted beautifully in an extra pairing requested by the home team.

Bowling & fielding has been a focus for the Hills during pre-season and once again the benefits of these extra hours were visible to all present. All our bowlers can be proud of their work but special mention to Ryan (2 for 4), Leo (2 for 3) and Aram (1-3). Not satisfied with conceding the limelight to his brother Sam pulled off a ‘Worldie’ of a catch at Mid On where mere mortals would have ducked for cover. The Hills fielding was sharp all day and Sam (that man again) combined with Leo to produce a fine run out to further dent the home team’s ambitions. All in all, a very professional performance from the Hills Minor B-Red team in conditions that tested both players, umpires and spectators. Great credit to both teams for playing with great spirt and the joint team photo reflects this nicely.

Thanks to all the parents who made the journey and got the players all the way to Kildare for 10am start.Mark, Simon Stephen and Ravi. Thanks to Simon Adderley for the report.

The following link will take you to a video of our nostalgic look back at our history as a club. Enjoy.

The Hills Ladies 2nds team’s first match of the season was played in Leinster CC. It was a beautiful summers day as the team approached the fabulous ground in Rathmines, many had come from far and near to play this match.

The Ladies second team is a mixture of sporty more mature ladies combined with a mixture of up-and-coming young talented cricketers.  We had two of our junior side making their debut on the ladies’ team, Ceola Brophy and Genevieve Treacy who played extremely well and really enjoyed the experience.  A special mention to Aimee Scollard who was determined to play on her confirmation day and who went on to bowl and field very well in the first innings.  

Anna Butterly made her debut on the ladies’ team, with a little persuasion, and only a few overs into the match went on to take a fabulous catch off Aimee Maguire’s bowling.  The fun and laughter in the field exploded as if we had won the world cup. 

Molly Butterly was behind the wickets doing what she usually does best, keep up the good work Molly.

Martha Maguire and Catherine Archer are the mentors of this young up and coming side, we are proud of all our juniors.

We won the toss and decided to field, the fielding was tight all round.

Bowling was excellent on the day with Lara McBride getting 2 wickets and Aimee Maguire getting 2 wickets and extremely tight bowling by Chloe Ericson.

Lara McBride 2-8-4

Aimee Maguire 2-17-4

Chloe Ericson 0-7-3

Leinster Total 97 runs required

Lara McBride and Aimee Maguire opened the batting with a strong display of excellent batting, Lara making 34 runs and Aimee making 47 runs, Lara’s wicket fell late on in the game (caught) with only a few runs required and Chloe went on to make 4 runs not out Well done to the all the team and a special thanks to Leinster who were so lovely and welcoming on the evening, thank you to Joe McBride for scoring and Mark Maguire for umpiring

Well done to the Hills Junior girls who put on an exceptional show with their win over North County.

Captain of the Day Aimee Scollard won the toss and decided to field first.  The bowling was kept very tight and all the bowlers on the night did extremely well with the loss of all North County wickets by the 16^th over.

Vanessa Scollard got 4 wickets, Tara O Brien got 4 wickets and Molly Butterly got 2 wickets, well done to Caoimhe who caught a great catch off Vanessa Scollard’s bowling. The fielding on the night was excellent by each and every player.

Bowling

Tara O Brien 4-4-4

Vanessa Scollard 4-9-4

Aimee Scollard 0-10-4

Molly Butterly 2-16-3

North County were all out for 46

The second innings went very well with Caoimhe E and Clodagh O Connor opening the batting, Clodagh made 26 runs not out (including five 4’s) and Caoimhe made 12 (including one 6), the pair went on to secure a win in only 6 overs. 

Well done girls!

Minor A boys League away vs Balbriggan / Rush on Friday 3^rd June

Having won this league last year, our Minor A boys started the defence of the trophy with a potentially difficult match against the newly amalgamated sides of Balbriggan and Rush.

The opposition batted 1^st and made a total of 119 for the loss of 2 wickets with 3 retirements (29+1). An overall good bowling display from the Hills with a special mention to Leo Russell and Tom Jackson and some solid fielding restricted the home side to this total which could have been a lot higher.

The Hills set off in the chase in very good fashion and an opening stand of 75 between Billy Kelly and Conor Donoghue who both retired (29+1), gave us the platform for victory and allowing Tom Hurley (17no) and Alan Courell to finish unbeaten for a 10 wicket win in the 15^th over.

Team: Alan Courell (Capt), Billy Kelly , Conor Donoghue, Tom Hurley, Morgan Leonard, James Davis, Evan Goss, Tom Jackson, Chandrahas Chellagurki, Leo Russell, Daniel Adderley and Sam Clinton.

Minor A Boys League home vs Clontarf on Tuesday 7^th June

Following on from an opening win against a combined Balbriggan and Rush side, The Hills entertained Clontarf in the Vineyard on 7^th June.

The Hills won the toss and elected to bat and like the previous match another solid opening stand of 56 in 6 overs from Conor Donoghue (21) and another retirement from Billy Kelly laid the early foundations and which was followed on with further retirements by Tom Hurley and Alan Courell and a late cameo from James Davis and Evan Goss gave the Hills a total of 158 for 2 off 20 overs.

With the potential of rain looming large The Hills needed to get their overs in quickly. Following a solid start from Clontarf a great catch from Tom Jackson off the bowling of Billy Kelly followed by a spell of bowling from him of 1 for 0 off 2 overs left Clontarf well behind the run rate.

The home side showed their strength in depth with excellent bowling spells from Daniel Adderley 0-1 off 2 overs, Leo Russell 1-11 off 2 overs, Morgan Leonard and James Davis 0-0 off 1, Chandharas Chellagurki 0-6 off 3 overs and Evan Goss 0-21 off 3 overs to restrict Clontarf to 80-4 off 20 overs and a 78 run victory.

Team: Alan Courell (Capt), Billy Kelly, Conor Donoghue, Tom Hurley, Morgan Leonard, James Davis, Evan Goss, Tom Jackson, Chandrahas Chellagurki, Leo Russell, Daniel Adderley and Shreyas Chellagurki

The Future is bright!

The numbers drawn in the Lotto this evening were;

7, 17, 22 & 25

There was no winner of The Jackpot.

Lucky Dip winners were George Kitteringham & Martin Kavanagh, €25.00 each.

The Jackpot next week will be €4,050.00.

Third Man

In many respects, the opening round of the IBI Corporate Premier League resembles the quarter-final stage of the European Club Football Championships. All the preliminary jousting has now been completed, and the serious competition begins. It has been suggested in some previews that there are two distinct competitions within the Premier League with four teams competing to win the league and four teams competing to avoid relegation. The identity of the teams in each category will provoke much discussion, and over the coming weeks, a greater level of clarity will manifest itself.

 The opening game for The Hills was against Malahide at the Village on Monday, and the ground at Malahide looked tremendous with preparations well underway for the coming international games. The Hills played without Jonathan Tall (injured while fielding for MCC in Romania), and Murray Commins (back spasms), while Malahide lacked the services of Fintan McAllister (guest at a wedding) and Matt Ford (injured). Having won the toss, The Hills opted to bat first, and the opening partnership of Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin (16) and Andrew Kavanagh (9) scored 42 runs, but then two wickets fell for only two runs. A stand of 48 between Athar Farooqi (10) and Dylan Blignaut settled the nerves of the visiting supporters, but with three wickets down and only 92 runs scored in 26 overs, the home team was beginning to sense an opening day victory. That hope was soon extinguished by a partnership of 97 runs between Mark Donegan (47) and Blignaut. Mark was very unlucky to be run out when he was batting beautifully, but Dylan continued on his merry way to score a brilliant 101 runs. A partnership of 32 runs between Tomás Rooney-Murphy (15) and Dylan brought the score nearer to the 250 mark, and 37 Extras were very helpful in this regard. The last pair of Sam Smyth (6*) and Matthew Weldon (8*) added a valuable 17 runs, and The Hills ended on 253 for 9.

The Hills’ supporters were very interested is seeing Ryan Hackney, the Malahide overseas player, because he had signed for The Hills before the restrictions of the Covid pandemic impacted on all cricket in Leinster a few seasons ago. Malahide’s opening partnership of Hackney and Muntha scored 41 runs before Muntha was caught by Tomás Rooney-Murphy off the bowling of Dylan Blignaut. The next wicket to fall was that of Callum Riches (7) when he was clean-bowled by Tomás Rooney-Murphy. Wickets then began to fall at regular intervals as The Hills’ bowling attack of Athar Farooqi, Levon Shields and Sam Smyth began to impose a stranglehold on the game. Hackney was out eventually in the 36^th over when he was caught by Bhavesh Lakhotia off the bowling of Levon Shields. Hackney looked to be a competent player, but a strike-rate of 65.88% for his 56 runs is arguably too slow in limited overs cricket. Malahide’s final score was 143 all out, and The Hills had opened its league campaign with a victory margin of 110 runs to put 25 points on the board.

The Hills’ bowling attack continues to impress with Athar Farooqi, the undoubted star on this occasion when he took 4 wickets for 22 runs in 8 overs. It was good to see Matthew Weldon being entrusted with the new ball while Sam Smyth bowled very well and took 1 wicket for 17 runs in 7 overs. The more experienced bowlers (Tomás Rooney-Murphy, 2 for 42, Dylan Blignaut, 1 for 19 and Levon Shiels, 1 for 42 in 10 overs) are consistently reliable, and the next few weeks will show into which category The Hills will fall in the race for the league title. The next outing for The Hills 1 is against Phoenix at The Vineyard on Sunday, 12 June. Until then, its onwards and upwards.

PS For all members and supporters of The Hills and all cricket-lovers in Fingal, a video, “A Celebration of 50 Years” will be screened on Friday, 10 June in the Clubhouse. Starting time: 7.30 p.m. All welcome.