CASTLE Avenue was a happy place to be, last Saturday. With the top place in Section A of the River House League already secured by Clontarf, the match against Carlisle had been an academic exercise, but skipper Brian McNeice, in accepting the trophy, spoke well, touching upon such old fashioned topics as sporting behaviour on the field, towards opponents and umpires alike.

The members of the club's women's team had returned from Sandymount, where they had easily defeated YMCA, to retain the Pilkington Plate (40 overs). All told, Tom Prior, president of Clontarf CC, was a contented man.

"The first trophy we won this season was the Senior II Cup, and the side was captained by Enda McDermott. Having served the club for many years at senior level, it's both typical and commendable of Enda that he has continued at the lower grade.

"Now we've won the Senior League, and the great thing is that we did it back to back, repeating our success of last year. This year, we have a much younger team the average age is only 23 - at 31, Deryck Vincent is the oldest player," says Prior.

"We've got a 17 year old in Paul Ryan, a 15 year old in Andrew Cullen, and we've got four 20 year olds. In the schoolboy section, our under 15 team won both the Leinster Cup and the All Ireland Cup.

"Former players like Brian Bunworth and Derek McGeehan have come back into coaching, and overall there's a great buzz about the club, at all levels. As well as the women winning today, the Clontarf second XI, captained by Stella Downes, won the Junior Cup," says Prior.

Clontarf fields six adult teams, and at under age, there are sides at 18, 15, 13 and 11, as well as three women's teams. The cost of maintaining the grounds - among the most attractive in Dublin - and the square are substantial, says Prior, "but we have a band of very loyal and very hard working members."

Prior is confident about the future, given the youthful average age of the first XI, and the club's schoolboy development. "Any Friday night here, we have anything up to 120 boys in the ground, aged 8 to 10; now if only 10 per cent of those kids come through, it will give us the nucleus of a very good team.

"We're lucky to be located in an area where we don't have too much competition for cricket and yet there's a huge catchement area - and it's up to us to harness that," Prior says.

. The match to decide promotion from Section B of the Leinster League, between The Hills and Rush, has been fixed for Milverton on Thursday, 12.30.