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.

The numbers drawn in the Lotto last evening were:

1, 4, 28 & 29

There was no winner of The Jackpot.

Lucky Dip winners were Martin Kavanagh & Michelle Everard, €25.00 each.

The Jackpot next week will be €3,950.00.

Third Man

22nd May 2022

In recent years, games between The Hills and Dublin University have been contested fiercely with no quarter asked for or given. Two years ago, Dublin University won a close game at The Vineyard, while last year, The Hills won a close game at College Park. Both teams were still in contention to qualify for the semi-final but were dependent on the result of North County’s game against Phoenix. Dublin University won the toss and opted to bowl in very favourable bowling conditions. The Hills’ top order batsmen struggled to cope with a ball that was swinging, and wickets fell with monotonous regularity. Of the top six batsmen, only Andrew Kavanagh (14) had a score in double figures. With 7 wickets down for 68 runs, it appeared that the faithful at The Vineyard would have another early finish, but on this occasion, it would be The Hills that would lose. Cometh the hour, cometh two men. Tomás Rooney-Murphy (50) and Athar Farooqi (43*) batted brilliantly to bring the score up to 157, and then there was a last wicket partnership of 27 runs between Athar and Luke Clinton which gave The Hills a competitive total of 184 runs.

 After a beautiful tea, hostilities recommenced, and from a Hills’ perspective, it was essential to take early wickets. The Trinity batsmen were very circumspect against the opening bowling of Dylan Blignaut and Tomás Rooney-Murphy, but a wicket was taken eventually in the seventh over when Mark Donegan took a superb catch off the bowling of Dylan Blignaut. The fall of the first wicket brought Nicolaas Pretorius, the former Hills’ player, to the crease and he batted very well for 52 runs while wickets kept falling at the other end. There were a number of rain delays, and the two umpires were confronted with difficult situations which they handled with diplomacy and calmness. Pretorius was out when Murray Commins took a catch off the bowling of Dylan Blignaut, and that shifted the balance in favour of the bowling side. The last 4 Trinity wickets were taken for 37 runs, and there was great elation at The Vineyard when Collins was run out by the Kavanagh/ Donegan combination.

The Hills’ bowlers were superb with Blignaut taking 4 wickets for 34; Tomás Rooney-Murphy, 2 for 30; Levon Shields, 2 for 10 and Jonathan Tall, 1 for 41. Although he did not take a wicket, Ashley Bain bowled with great control, and his 7 overs yielded only 20 runs. The Hills’ fielding was excellent throughout the innings; Mark Donegan was brilliant behind the stumps and took 3 catches, one of which was an absolutely magnificent effort. Andy Kavanagh took 2 catches and was involved in a run-out, and special mention is merited by Katie Boylan who sub-fielded very well for the injured Luke Clinton. With news filtering back to The Vineyard that North County had been beaten by Phoenix, The Hills and North County are now neck and neck for a place in the semi-final. The Hills can look back on a very satisfactory weekend which yielded two victories and will look forward to the visit of Terenure to The Vineyard on Saturday next. Until then, it’s onwards and upwards.