News

Key contests await in both the Irish Senior Cup and the National Cup with the spots for the finals to be decided this Sunday.

The semi-final draws are:

Irish Senior Cup

• Instonians v Merrion (follow the scores)
• Phoenix v CIYMS (follow the scores)

National Cup

• Ballyspallen v Rush (follow the scores)
• North County v Strabane (follow the scores)

The reserve day for the semi-finals is set for 21 July in case of bad weather then the final for the Irish Senior Cup will take place on 17 August while the final for the National Cup on 18 August.

Veteran Instonians all-rounder Andrew White was speaking ahead of their clash with Merrion.

On their season:

“Yeah it’s been up and down. Arguably our league form hasn’t been too good, but we’ve had decent runs in both the NCU Senior Cup and the Irish Cup. We probably go into the weekend with the two cup competition semi-finals as underdogs. But you never know.“

On their underdog status:

“We’ve a side that’s very young bar myself arguably, but the challenge is I think when you look around some of the other top teams. They have a lot more experience than we do, but on any given day we have the players that can can hurt the opposition. We do have a talented side, but hopefully come the weekend those guys can stand up and make a big statement in a very big competition on Sunday.“

On home advantage:

“I don’t know how much home advantage really plays and I guess you don’t have to travel on the Sunday morning which is the first thing but you know, players are used playing here there, everywhere nowadays and it’ll be whoever plays best on the day, I guess certain grounds are unique and that can play a part. I don’t think Shaws Bridge you know will do that necessarily. It can be a fast scoring ground, but it’ll be the team that plays the best cricket in the day that comes out.“

What it would mean to get through:

“I think this is only our second ever semi-final. We got to the final a number of years ago against Warringstown and DLS intervened, which was disappointing. But it would be an amazing achievement, given that we’ve no overseas professional. So we’re not relying on that side of things. So it would be an incredible achievement, but we haven’t even thought about the final because we know how big a task we have with Merrion coming down. If it’s our day, it would be brilliant to get to another final.“