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.

As part of the celebrations for The Hills 50^th anniversary, a Nostalgia evening was held in October 2019.

A video of the event, entitled “The Hills, a Celebration of 50 Years” will be screened in The Vineyard Pavilion on Friday 10^th June 2022.  Proceedings will commence at 7.30pm.

Light refreshments will be provided and all present and past members, as well as friends of The Hills, are invited to attend.

(The bar will be open for those who prefer their refreshments a little less light.)

This is a terrific opportunity for those who may not be familiar with the rich history of our club and with the exploits of the giants on whose shoulders we stand. 

Jane Maguire is making he debut this evening when Ireland take on South Africa in Pembroke. Good Luck Jane from all your friends at The Hills.

The Hills Cricket Club Summer Camp 2022 is taking place on the 4th, 5th and 6th of July.

Soft ball camp from 10am to 12 noon (age 5-9)

Hard ball camp from 2pm to 4pm (age 10-12)

Please book early as our Easter Camp was fully booked within a couple of days.

Use the link below to register and pay;

https://member.clubforce.com/memberships_cart_m.asp…

The numbers drawn in last nights lotto were;

31, 11, 20, 19.

There was no winner of The Jackpot.

Lucky Dip winners were Alan Courell & Mary O’Dwyer, €25.00 each.

The Jackpot next week will be €4,000.00

Third Man

With North County and The Hills level on points going into the last series of games in the Sports Hub League Cup, the situation regarding the second qualifying place could not have been more finely poised. Both teams knew that it was not going to be sufficient to win their respective games because the place in the semi-final would be gained by the team which gained the higher number of bonus teams. This gave rise to a range of dilemmas for captains if they won the toss; would it be preferable to field and hope that the opposition would be bowled out cheaply or opt to bat and score so many runs that the opposition would be batted out of the game? Tomás Rooney-Murphy, The Hills Captain, chose the second option, and The Hills batted first.

The first Hills’ wicket (McLoughlin-Gavin) fell when 28 runs had been scored, and the second wicket (Kavanagh) fell 4 runs later. There was then a stand of 31 runs between Mark Donegan and Dylan Blignaut, which ended when Mark was out for 8 runs. Dylan and Levon Shields gave momentum to the innings and were particularly severe on any loose bowling. A stand of 125 ended when Blignaut had scored 73 runs,  but Levon continued imperturbably to score his maiden century (112) for The Hills. In his magnificent innings, he faced 104 balls, and hit 14 fours and two sixes. Tomás Rooney-Murphy and Levon had a stand of 35 runs, and allied to 24 Extras, The Hills’ final score was 259 runs.

There was a consensus among Hills’ supporters and some of the Terenure players that the par score was in the region of 270 runs, in view of the lightning -fast outfield and the superb wicket. Predicting a par score is a very hazardous activity at the best of times, and it is often wiser to reserve judgement because the only score that matters is the figure that the chasing team manages to achieve. The Hills had a dream start in the second innings with a wicket being taken by the Tomás Rooney-Murphy /Donegan combination when Terenure had only scored 9 runs; the second Terenure wicket fell to a caught and bowled by Levon Shields when the score was 57. Athar Farooqi took a wicket with the first ball that he bowled, and that was thanks to a magnificent catch by Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin. Ashley Bain took the next three wickets, but Henry Dall, the Terenure opening bat, was batting beautifully, and the more pessimistic Hills’ supporters were thinking that the chances of qualifying for the semi-final were becoming progressively more remote. Matthew Weldon had struggled to a certain extent in his first spell, but when he came back to bowl for his second spell, he took the key wicket of Dall. Tomás Rooney-Murphy and Dylan Blignaut wrapped up proceedings with the last two wickets, and The Hills’ margin of victory was 36 runs. The bowling honours were taken by Tomás Rooney-Murphy (3 for 33), Ashley Bain (3 for 34), Athar Farooqi (1 for 21), Dylan Blignaut (1 for 35) and Matthew Weldon (1 for 39). Had The Hills done enough to qualify? No. North County won its game by 7 wickets, and thus qualified for the semi-final.

From a Hills’ perspective, it was a question of what might have been, and the loss to North County in the first game meant that the team was on the back foot for the rest of the campaign. There are many positives however because the team is responding well to Jeremy Bray, the Club Coach and Tomás Rooney-Murphy has engendered a good spirit among the players. The batting has been  brittle at times,  but the bowling is solid, and some wonderful catches have been taken in the field, with the wicket-keeping of Mark Donegan being especially noteworthy.   The Hills’ next outing is on 2 June against North Kildare in The Maws. Until then, it is onwards and upwards.