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Review of Divisions 3 & 4 for the weekend 9th - 10th July

After a sluggish start, both Divisions 3 and 4 are beginning to warm up, although the results are pointing to Senior clubs' second strings dominating the Junior clubs' first strings.  Clontarf firsts had a poor weekend, but the club's strength in depth meant that their seconds could see off the best of the Junior sides, Balbriggan.

The  Fingal side will be disappointed that their batsmen couldn't give more support to Barry Archer's 107, the next best score being Gavin Morgan's 20 out of 228 all out in the final over.  For Clontarf, Andy Cullen took 3/43 and Connor D'Arcy 3/45.  'Tarf lost two early wickets, but were steadied by Altaf (57) and McDermott (47).  Paul Ryan (42), Ross Maybury (37*) and Connor D'Arcy (29*) brought them home with a three wicket victory.

Leinster 2 were far too good for Civil Service in Rathmines, although Service must have thought they were in with a shout when they had the home team 136-6 (Dave Lucas 59).  Then Niks Nagar (58*) and Asif Hussein (53*) almost doubled the score to 262-6.  Service were quickly in the doo-dah at 56-6, but Fayyaz Sayyam (71) kept Leinster out in the field and away from the beautiful Brazilian barmaid for a while.  Service were all out for 189 in the 41st over.  Geraghty took 3/37 and Hugh McDonnell 3/42.

In Sydney Parade the home team got to 213 all out in the 48th over thanks to 65 from Jack Balbirnie, Glenn Kirwan taking 3/36.  The pitch must have been way over from the railway line, because Malahide 2 were 50-6.  Keith Reynolds made 42 as the Village were 116 all out in 25.5 overs, Gary Baugh taking 3/23 and Andy Leonard 3/12.  That leaves Leinster and Pembroke, both unbeaten, above the unwanted (by me) Dublin University.  Oakhill are rock-bottom, well below Clontarf 2 and Civil Service.

Division 4 saw a couple of mis-matches.  At Park Avenue Mullingar could make only 154 in 44 overs, Adeel Haider scoring 23 and O'Donnell 26.  Imran Aslam took 4/25.  Mullingar removed the Railway openers, but that was it.  Patrick Collins made 102* and Tim Townend 28* as the Shunters reached the siding in 20 overs.

In The Maws, Phoenix put on 311 for the first wicket, Masud Ahmed scoring 195 of them.  Fellow opener Battan reached 108 as Phoenix 2 closed on 377-2.  North Kildare lost Ian Walshe, run out without facing, then Neavyn (60) and Singh (45) added a hundred, but the other eight folded for 159 all out.  Nazir took 4/19 and Masud Ahmed 3/36.

In the Village, Reed (27) and Gilmore (16) put on 44 for the first wicket.  The remaining nine couldn't double that as Malahide were rolled for 76 by Yaqoob Ali's 8/16.  YMCA 2 were 38-4, but Walker's 21 got them to 77-7 in 18.5 overs as Gibbons took 5/32.

The tightest match was in the Village on Saturday, where Laois beat Malahide 3 by one run.  Unforunately, Malahide haven't seen fit to provide a scorecard, so I've very few details.  Laois made 121 all out inside 24 overs, with 44 from Yasin, Alan Reynolds taking 5/48.  Reynolds then scored 50 out of 120, Louis Hoffmeyr taking 3/24.  I wish I could tell you more.

Railway Union head the table, followed by YMCA 2 and Phoenix 2.  Malahide 3 are adrift at the bottom, with Laois filling the other relegation place.