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The RSA Irish Senior Cup final being held in Malahide on August 24th will be an all-Leinster affair after Merrion and Clontarf got past CSNI and YMCA respectively to book their places in the final.

This will be Merrion’s third final in four years. The Dublin side beat their neighbours Railway in 2010 to win the coveted trophy and lost to The Hills last year, so they will be keen to win the biggest club trophy in the country back later this month.

Clontarf beat YMCA by five wickets to make it to the last stage in the competition and are the surprise package in this tournament. The Castle Avenue side have never won the Irish Senior Cup but have a winning mentality after an almost blemish free season, albeit in Division 2.

Merrion batted first in their tie with CSNI in Stormont. After Kade Beasley (4) was dismissed early on, Ben Ackland (42) and Brett Thompson (45) set about giving the Anglesea Road side a solid platform.

John Anderson (86) and Dominick Joyce (37) both added to the score but it was Peter Blakeney’s 45 from 20 balls at the back-end of the innings that bumped Merrion up to a formidable total of 292. Nigel Jones was the best of the CSNI bowlers with a return of 10-2-29-2.

The early dismissal of CSNI’s Regan West (8) and Jason Van der Merwe (8) was a huge boost to the southern team. Only recently returned from injury, Merrion’s Tom Stanton then claimed the huge scalp of Griffin Nieuwoudt (12) and when David Watkins got the wicket of Nigel Jones caught and bowled, the Anglesea Road side were firmly on top.

C McMorran (32), Corin Goodall (28) and AJ Coulter (33) all made starts in CSNI’s lower middle order, but none could take the Northern side close to their target. Simon Morrissey was the pick of the Merrion bowlers with 10-1-38-2 while John Anderson took the most wickets with a return of 8.4-1-41-3 as CSNI were all out for 200.

Clontarf had a dream start against YMCA on Claremont Road when the Sandymount side were reduced to 5-3, Albert Van der Merwe (3), Jack Tector (0) and Simi Singh (0) all out early on.

Reinhardt Strydom (74) and Jeremy Bray (44) began to rebuild until Bray was run out by Andrew Poynter. Trent Johnston (66*) and Strydom built a good partnership until Strydom was caught somewhat tamely on the mid-wicket boundary by Bill Coghlan off the bowling of Joe Morrissey.

Johnston batted to the end to help bump YMCA’s total up to a slightly below par 215. Clontarf suffered a similar early order collapse to give the Claremont Road outfit a good chance at a comeback.

Robert Forrest (4), M Colier (0) and Joe Morrissey (2) were all gone in quick order but after the rain came and went, Bill Coghlan (80*) and Vijay Gopal (72) made quick work of the revised Duckworth Lewis target of 176. Jeremy Bray got his own back when he ran Andrew Poynter (5) out late on after Gopal was out, but Eoghan Delany (3) came in at the end to finish the job with Coghlan.

For all of the scores click here. The final will take place on August 24th in Malahide Cricket Club.

Cricket Ireland
Bill Coghlan saw Clontarf into the RSA Irish Senior Cup final
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