It's never easy to report on a defeat, especially a semi-final defeat, it's even more difficult to find positives but Clontarf 6ths displayed great determination and spirit to get within one wicket and one ball of making the Minor Cup Final.
Things began well enough with Tom winning the toss and choosing to bat. The pitch was dry and firm and looked decent for batting. Clontarf struggled to contain some superb Merrion bowling and lost Vidhya Gompa, Brendan Duggan, Amir Panjvani and Neal Smillie early to find themselves 27-4. Abilash Krishnan provided some resistance but Clontarf were in big trouble at 52-6. Enter Tom. After a slow start Tom went on to hit a gritty captain's innings of 42, his best knock of the season and under the circumstances a knock of real character and leadership. Tom was ably supported by Paul McShane who made 25 but the Clontarf innings and indeed the match was overshadowed by a horrific injury to Kevin McDermott who dislocated his shoulder while diving to save his wicket. The game was delayed for an hour and tea was taken but the momentum of the innings that had been built by Tom and Kevin was lost and Clontarf fell for a disappointing 123-9 off 37 overs.
After the delay Merrion came out to bat. Their attitude to ths chase was to bludgeon their way and they were doing quite well getting to 100-5. The drama arrived late in the game with a flurry of quick wickets. Eventually Merrion were 122-9 needing two runs to win and Clontarf needing one wicket. Sadly for Clontarf it wasn't to be and Merrion just got over the line. The bowlers deserve great credit with 3 wickets for Vidhya, two for Amir and one each for Orwell, Rob and Neal Smillie.
Given the injury to Kevin and other things that didn't go their way in the game it really wasn't Clontarf's day but to run it so close from such a weak position is testament to the character of the side and the leadership of Tom James. One of the positives to come from the game was that it was played in the right manner, it was competitive but never lost the spirit of the game. The big positive from the day was that Kevin McDermott was released from hospital that evening and will make a full recovery.
Thanks to those of you who braved the rain to support the team and thanks to the Clontarf players for providing great entertainment and showing that they're a well organised and hard to beat cricket team. Rob McD
