DFC |Dundalk boss Jon Daly hails Daryl Horgan after crucial derby win
On a weekend to forget for cricketers in Dundalk between July 27th and 28th, both men’s teams from the town’s cricket club were eliminated from their T20 Cup tournaments in the competition’s semi-finals.
Dundalk Cricket Club’s first team had made a promising start to play against Rush in North Dublin on Saturday the 27th, when Sanju Thoms and Jithin John bowled with accuracy to knock the stuffing out of their host’s middle order in the capital.
Rush’s Conor Butterly finished on 73 not out for the hosts, however, his efforts were bested by Dundalk’s Yash Verma, whose tally of 100 n/o allowed the visitors to successfully pass the 176 they needed to triumph. Verma became just the fifth cricketer in the entire history of Dundalk Cricket Club to lodge a century.
On Sunday, both the first and second-men’s team descended on the Carrick Road for a double T20 semi-final bout. With fine weather capping a jovial atmosphere at Hinley Park, there was some excellent cricket on show, however, Dundalk were ultimately second best in each showdown.
Dundalk’s second string faced off against Mullingar 3 and fielded well-enough to restrict the visitors to what looked like a beatable 160. Indeed, had their meeting with Mullingar 3 been covered in the in-play markets on sports betting apps, Dundalk would have been odds-on to prevail.
In response, Dundalk top order got things off to a solid start, however, once Prashant Nair was forced to retire on 33, the host’s overall standards started to slip and they ended with a score that was 26 below the required target.
Still, spirits weren’t dampened at Hinley Park and with spectators sticking around for the second act, the first team took their turn in the spotlight as they took the field against Adamstown 4.
With a place in the ED Sports Whelan Cup final for the second year on the spin the target, Dundalk fielded first, though they couldn’t prevent Adamstown from delivering a 52-run opener. Sanju Baby managed to stop the rot with two wickets from three balls however, and Dundalk’s turn ended with a score of 147 to chase down.
Dundalk were sitting at a modest 77-7 before the closers entered the fray and Raheel Qamar and Umer Khan’s combined half century put the hosts in a decent position. However, in the final over, Dundalk fell short by just a single run and fell agonizingly short of glory.
With promotion to chase in their respective divisions before the season ends, both the first and second team will need to dust themselves down quickly following their T20 Cup heartache.
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