Sport

County to do it hard way

Cricket : If North County win the Irish Senior Cup this year, no one could possibly complain that they had it easy.

James Fitzgerald
Sat Jun 04 2005 - 01:00

Cricket: If North County win the Irish Senior Cup this year, no one could possibly complain that they had it easy.

Beating Cliftonville away in the first round was a potential disaster avoided and now they travel back up to NCU territory today to take on perhaps the fiercest competition north of the border, Waringstown.

In the off season, Waringstown recruited former Ireland captain Kyle McCallan and with Jonathan Bushe, Andrew Cousins and James Hall also in good form, North County will not have it all their own way at The Lawn.

But this is a County side full of determination and the fact they did not make it into the semi-finals of the 45 Overs League, losing to Malahide in the group stages, may have removed any complacency that was rearing its head. The Lawn is a ground that rewards good cricket so expect to see Andre Botha, Paul Mooney and Seán O'Connor doing some damage.

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Remarkably, there are eight other Leinster clubs in the second round and at least four of them should make it through to the quarter-finals. Having written off Phoenix in the last round, one hesitates to do the same this time, considering how they disposed of Strabane, but surely another trip to the north-west (this time to Limavady) is beyond them.

YMCA will be without Angus Dunlop (injury), Warwick Armstrong (away) and Mehmet Singh (work) for their journey to Glendermott for a game where they really need to be at full strength.

Rush take on Downpatrick at Kenure without Niall Mullen and Sadat Gull while Railway Union also face northern opposition as they host Ballyspallen at Park Avenue.

There are a couple of all-Leinster ties, too, as Clontarf make the short trip to Malahide and Pembroke play Merrion at Sydney Parade. All common sense suggests Trent Johnston's Clontarf will be too good for Malahide, but then the villagers have been something of an enigmatic force this year and when they are on song, they can trouble the best, as North County have already found out.

Also today, Leinster play The Hills in Rathmines in Section B of the WMK League while in Section A tomorrow, Phoenix and CYM fight it out at Terenure.