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A brilliant century from John Mooney and 78 from Max Sorensen put Leinster Lightning firmly in charge on the opening day of their crucial Hanley Energy Inter-Provincial Championship match in Rathmines.
Knowing that a win for either side would secure the title there were some nervous looking faces around Observatory Lane as the Knights and Lightning prepared to take each other on in the final Hanley Energy Inter-Provincial Championship match of the season.

Few will be as nervous as those in the North-West though, with the Warriors knowing that a draw in this match is likely to see them win the title for the first time.

Winning the toss Knights captain Lee Nelson, standing in for the unavailable Andrew White, chose to bowl first in Rathmines, with overcast skies looking likely to favour the bowlers. His openers Robert McKinley and Stephen Bunting used the conditions to bowl tight and restrict scoring with Jack Tector and Fintan McAllister barely managing two runs per over in the opening half an hour.

The pressure built by Bunting and McKinley did not earn them a wicket, but the introduction of Shane Getkate, who perhaps lacked the consistency of the opening pair, but bowled aggressively to pick up the wickets of both Tector (13) and Simmi Singh (4), both caught after Getkate found the edge.

Two more wickets in the morning session, one for Bunting, who brought a ball back off the pitch to bowl Andrew Poynter (9) and a first Inter-Provincial wicket for Jacob Mulder– who had McAllister (16) caught at point, meant the Knights were the happier of the two sides at lunch, with the Lightning 70-4 at the break.

Irish internationals John Mooney and Max Sorensen took matters into their own hands after lunch and took control of the situation, batting the Lighting into the ascendancy with some controlled aggression, Sorensen hitting four sixes in his 78 before Cameron-Dow found his leading edge and Peter Eakin took an easy catch in cover.

Eakin was on the field as a replacement for Lee Nelson, the stand in Knights skipper injured during the first session and withdrawn by Cricket Ireland, which allowed Eakin, who was acting as 12th man, to replace Nelson, with James Shannon taking over as captain for the remainder of the match.

Sorensen and Mooney ensured the middle session went to the Lightning, with just the wicket of Sorensen, coming shortly before tea, falling while 154 runs were added. After tea Mooney played an anchor role as Tyrone Kane (29) and Eddie Richardson (25 not out) batted aggressively and moved the score on quickly, with Mooney bringing up his brilliant century as his side passed the 300 mark for the loss of eight wickets.

Once passing the 100 mark, Mooney then joined Richardson in attacking the Knights bowlers smashing boundaries seemingly at will as he moved very quickly to 125 before he was stumped off the bowling of Cameron-Dow, sparking a declaration with the score 337-9.

The Knights then had an awkward 14 over spell to face in the evening sun before close of play, with Chris Dougherty and James McCollum opening up and seemingly seeing off the brunt of the attack before Tyrone Kane got a ball to lift on Dougherty and he was caught by Tector for 20. James Cameron-Dow came in as night-watchman for the Knights and saw out the remaining two overs without problem as the Knights finished on 49-1, still 288 runs behind the Lightning.

HANLEY ENERGY INTER-PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP

At Rathmines, Day 1 close of play

LEINSTER LIGHTNING 337/9 dec (87.4 overs. J Mooney 125, M Sorensen 78, T Kane 29, E Richardson 25*, J Mulder 3-85, J Cameron-Dow 3-93, S Getkate 2-42)

NORTHERN KNIGHTS 49/1 (14 overs, C Dougherty 20, T Kane 1-8)

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Connaught