The demise of any sports club, no matter what its sporting discipline, is always regrettable. And the impending end, as a senior club, at any rate, of Carlisle will leave the game in Leinster and, indeed, Ireland, all the poorer. That the club will cease to be, a mere couple of weeks after the death of the legendary Alf Solomons, has its own strange poignancy.
Hopes that Carlisle could somehow be saved have now well and truly evaporated, for the club has officially informed the Leinster Cricket Union that it will not be playing senior cricket next season. One consolation to be derived from that announcement is the fact that several excellent players will be looking for new clubs. And the demise of Carlisle will save one Whitney Moore & Keller Section A club from demotion to Section B.
For, with Carlisle gone next season, only one club will be relegated, which means that the two at the bottom of the Section B table at present - Pembroke and Rush - still have a great deal to play for in their remaining matches. As usual, the top two Section B clubs will be promoted, and the vacancy thus created in the lower division will be filled by the arrival of Cork County which has, of course, competed in the early season Lewis Traub League for the past couple of years.
As the final run-in begins, Clontarf are virtually certain to regain the Section A spot which they lost by a point last year. They have two more matches to play - at home against CYM this afternoon and away to North County next Saturday. While not necessary, winning both will be important. "Promotion is pretty well assured, but it would be nice to go up as Section B champions," says club president Fergus Carroll.
Phoenix, who should pick up another 20 points at the expense of Old Belvedere today, are in hot pursuit, but have already lost twice to Clontarf. Carroll agrees that winning promotion would be a significant consolation for his club's recent two-run loss to Ballymena in the Royal Liver Irish Senior Cup semi-final.
And he pays tribute to Clontarf's first XI skipper, Johnny Daly. "Johnny has proved to be an excellent motivator and has helped to build up a high degree of team spirit in the senior squad. This was reflected in the off-season weekly indoor training at St Andrew's College last winter," says Carroll.
Meanwhile, Limavady, under Decker Curry's captaincy, captured their fifth successive North West League Division One title with the nine-wicket away defeat of Coleraine last Sunday. Coleraine were skittled out for 48 in 26.2 overs, with veteran Victor McDaid picking up six for 14 off 13 overs.
Curry, hardly for the first time, has had a great season, scoring 1,100 runs and capturing 50 wickets. The problems with his availability for the national side must, however, be addressed. In Ireland's busiest-ever representative season, his constant absence was a huge loss, and it will be interesting to watch his form for Northern Ireland in the up-coming Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur - the team departs on Monday.
