studaultrey.com

Merrion v Malahide: Division 1 match played at Anglesea Road on Saturday 4th September

Umpires are never going to get everything right, so one approach to the task is to regard it as an exercise in damage limitation. By giving no iffy lbws, no nicks to the keeper unless you're absolutely sure, and no marginal line decisions, you'll be right far more times than wrong and you'll be consistent.

But losing teams, teams in trouble, will always complain about decisions more than successful and winning teams, and all teams will complain about the umpires' decisions regarding ground, weather and light. So when you've got one or both teams in trouble on a bad weather day, you know you're unlikely to please more than some of the people some of the time.

The matches I watched this weekend were contests between relegation candidates and sides that were safe played in dodgy weather, so it was inevitable that there would be more than average moans directed in the umpires' direction.

On Saturday I watched one of the Irish Senior Cup finalists, Merrion, against relegation candidates Malahide at a damp Anglesea Road. There was no chance of a prompt start, but it stopped raining around noon and the covers came off. Spits and spots caused the covers to be put back on, and there was then weather that you couldn't start in but that you probably wouldn't come off for were you playing.

We knew that relegation rivals Leinster and Clontarf had started playing at one o'clock less than two miles away in Rathmines, which didn't help Malahide's anxieties. After an early tea it brightened up and a start was possible at three o'clock.

Malahide won the toss, decided to field in what they thought was going to be a 20-over match, and then got exercised when the umpires recalculated and decreed a 25-over match. A re-toss was refused, and Ben Ackland and Dom Joyce walked out to face Reece McDonald and Phil Markey. The first two overs conceded just one wide.

Then Ackland and Joyce started to play a few shots, and McDonald gave way at the Ballsbridge end to Callum Riches, whose one over was tonked for 16. Pete Saville took over at the Donnybrook end and sent down a couple of decent overs, in the second of which Dom Joyce wandered up the pitch, wafted and was stumped for 27 out of 61.

Greg Clarence watched Ackland play some lovely shots to take the score to 79, when he was bowled by Saville for 42. In Saville's final over Clarence was excellently caught by Markey for 5 to make it 90-3 with less that ten overs to bat.

At this stage the Village bowling got a bit ragged and brainless, feeding Peter Blakeney's hockey shot to the mid wicket boundary, and Jimmy Govan was introduced too late in the proceedings to bowl his five overs. In his second he bowled Blakeney for 37 and then Kade Beasley for nought to make it 146-5.

That over was a double wicket maiden, and the last four conceded 22 more runs to Johnny Anderson (30*) and Damian Poder (12) as Merrion finished on 168-6. Saville recorded 3/28 off five and Govan 3/15 off four.

When you're chasing better than run-a-ball, you want a good start. Malahide got that from Richard Keaveney, who bowled five wides and was hit for 4,4,6 when Reece McDonald could reach the ball. “Kiwi” was immediately replaced by Simon Morrissey from the Ballsbridge end, and in his second over McDonald was smartly stumped by Ackland for 22 out of 35.

The Malahide score became 41-2 off 6 when Fintan McAllister (11) poked a catch to Clarence off Ronan McDonald. Nick Turner and Michael O'Brien couldn't keep the momentum, and the rate had fallen below sixes when Turner was lbw to Morrissey for 3. It had fallen below fives in the 13th over, and O'Brien and Govan were getting anxious.

A “Yes! No! Wait!” interlude left Govan stranded, and he was well short when the throw broke the stumps with Ackland jumping back out of the way as he realised he didn't have to collect the ball to effect the run out. The “Governor” was most reluctant to leave the scene of the crime, swishing his bat at all and sundry.

He obviously thought Ackland had broken the wicket as he jumped out of the way, apparently believing a bail to have been dislodged. No-one else noticed that, and it wouldn't have mattered if that were the case. The throw knocked the other bail (both bails?) off to break the wicket legally.

Mike O'Brien (16) hit a catch to Dom Joyce in the deep off Clarence, Adam Coughlan was stumped off Anderson, and Markey caught by Joyce at point off Anderson, to make the score 76-7 after 18 overs. Saville and Riches added 46 in the next seven overs with sensible batting, but it wasn't anywhere near enough.

Riches was bowled by McDonald in the final over for 20 leaving Saville 26*, the Villagers 44 runs short and still in relegation doo-dah. Leinster's loss to Clontarf and YMCA's to North County had resolved nothing at the bottom although it had confirmed County as league champions.