Our First X1 will face Merrion this Thursday the 26th in a 20 over refix.

The game will start at 4.30 in The Vineyard.

Good luck to our Cubs team who play in the semi-final of their League on this Tuesday 24th of August at 6pm in The Vineyard. This great group of youngsters would really welcome your support.

Andrew Russell and his young son Joseph made it onto the same team on Sunday last when they lined out for the Fourth X1 Vs Athlone. Andrew helped The Hills post an amazing 329 runs and ended coming out winners by 195 runs. Joseph contributed with some great fielding and taking a brilliant diving catch at midwicket.

Our annual Golf Classic takes place on Friday August 27th at Balbriggan Golf club. Tee times start at 2pm. To book your place or to get further details please contact Luke Clinton on 086 806 9187.

Teams of four cost €200.00 and various sponsorship opportunities available from €50.00.

The numbers drawn in the Lotto last evening were:

20, 24, 27 & 28

There was no winner of The Jackpot.

The two Lucky Dip winners were Ray Moran and Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, €25.00 each.

The Jackpot for next week will be €1,950.00.

A beautiful water colour painting by Skerries artist Hugh Fitzgerald Ryan has been presented to the club by the Clinton and Gilbride families. The painting depicts several Hills legends including Joe Clinton, Richard Dunne, Matt Dwyer and Sean Gilbride. Pictured below is Bobby Swarbrigg, on behalf of the families, presenting the painting to Club President Michael Dwyer.

20 Overs game played at The Vineyard in pleasant weather conditions.

The toss was won by Clontarf who decided to have a bat.

The Hills went into the game having secured a two game winning streak in recent weeks so the question was could they continue that momentum into tonight’s game given the abundance of talent on show in the Clontarf side?

Clontarf started slowly only scoring 47 in their first 10 overs. Thanks to some very economical bowling from Katie Boylan and Jane Maguire we were off to a great start with the prospect of a modest target to chase. That was all to change for the second part of the Clontarf innings with the run rate increasing thanks to a very well managed 35 from Aoife Brennan, 25 from Anna Kirk and a supporting 15 from Anna Marshall. Alice Walsh contributed a quickfire 35 from 25 to post a final total of 129. A wicket each for Natasha Morton and Katie Boylan were the highlights of The Hills attack.

So a target of 130 to win seemed very reasonable given recent form but with the exception of Aisling Byrne (17) our front up batters failed to fire on the night. Clíodhna O’Reardon (10) and Miranda Andrews (11) steadied the ship for a while and gave supporters some brief belief that we were still on track for a win. That hope faded quickly with the loss of three quick wickets with the score still on 69. All hope rested on Tess Maritz (39 off 21), batting at number 8, young Aimee Maguire batting at number 11 and with 54 needed off 4.4 overs. Supporters suggested all sorts of Chris Gayle like combinations that were needed to win the game. What happened next was just extraordinary, Tess Maritz took the lead role and trusted her partner (Aimee Maguire) to take runs when they were there, running 2’s and singles when they could, putting the fielders under pressure. While the junior partner at the crease Aimee (11 from 13) never flinched or let the pressure get to her and ran aggressively at every opportunity.

With 20 runs needed off the last over how could The Hills possibly close this game off with a win. Enter the quiet but purposeful Maritz twin who had already decided that a win was still possible, a 2 from Aimee followed by a single left Tess on strike, 4 runs to long off, a dangerous head height no ball dispatched to the square leg boundary for (5), 2 to long on, 5 needed to tie, boom, 6 dispatched to Joe Archer’s field secured victory with one ball to spare. What a way to finish an incredible game, a record breaking 54 for a 10^th wicket partnership.