Bready and Bonds Glen post cup final wins

Two finals dominated the local cricket programme on Saturday with Bready and Bonds Glen claiming the spoils in what was a tense afternoon of domestic action.

Davy Scanlon’s team won the Sam Jeffrey Shield in a thriller at Beechgrove; Paddy Carson trapped lbw by Ian Young just as the rain had arrived and with the Bannsiders one run ahead. That subsequently turned out to be the final action of the day as players and umpires ran for cover immediately after.

That final wicket changed the scene completely, with Bready now five in front and meant yet another trophy would be heading to Magheramason.

Coleraine had gained a narrow 6-run lead in the first innings after a tremendous fightback from the north coast side’s bowlers.

David Rankin’s 91 and 43 from Ryan Clarke saw Bready race to 142-0 batting first, before Matthew Hutchinson (3-33) and Scott Campbell (3-34) combined to rip out the middle order as the innings stuttered to a total of 215 all out.

Marcus Poskitt top scored with 46 as he, Matty Smyth (42) and Scott Campbell (20) also gave their side a solid platform at 103-1 early on.

Here too however, the bowling side, led by Jordan McCorkell (4-54), and Irosh Samarasooriya (2-24) reined things back in and it took cameos from Stephen Hutchinson (21*), skipper Matthew (18) and Ravi Karunaratne (16) to steer Coleraine to their narrow lead.

Heavy overnight rain meant a much-delayed start of 2pm on Saturday, however due to an agreement to use the senior cup final regulations, only 10 overs a side were lost from the second innings.

They obviously weren’t to know it at the time, but that was to be a vital factor in the final reckoning.

Bready batted through their 40 overs to make a much more commanding 223-6 second time around; Rankin again top scoring with 65 to give the player-of-the-match adjudicator an easy decision to make.

Irosh batted well for his 58 while Clarke (35), Mervyn Magee (20*) and Young (15) all did their bit as Coleraine were set 218 to win.

Stephen Hutchinson (4-47) was easily the pick of the bowlers but once again the Sandel Lodge outfit came flying out of the traps in reply.

Poskitt followed up his first innings knock with another 56 here while Ravi Karunaratne’s 35 and 34 from Matty Hutchinson got Coleraine to 138-3 before the picture changed one last time.

Young was again to the fore- his 2-32 including the wickets of Hutchinson and then crucially Carson as Bready nicked it at the death.

The League 3 final wasn’t quite as topsy-turvy as that, albeit Bonds Glen did turn over a 37-run first innings deficit to account for Drummond by 92.

The damage was all done in the second innings as the Roe Valley team were bowled out for just 76, having been set 168 to win the trophy.

Dylan Holmes (19) fared best with the bat while Samuel Haslett (3-11), Raymond Cleminson (2-11), Richard Barr (2-25) and David Robinson (2-26) did a real number on the Drummond order.

The first innings had been a different story as Jarvis Ritchie (3-16), Andrew Doey (3-29) and Vicky Chaudhary (2-15) had given Drummond the upper hand; Robinson’s 21 the best of Bonds Glen 112-9 first up.

Attary’s 65 (8 fours, 3 sixes) and 24 from Chaudhary had looked set to hand the Roe Valley men a sizeable first innings advantage, but a superb spell of 5-10 from Cleminson and 3-23 from Robinson saw the last 5 wickets fall for 30 runs.

It was a momentum swing that the Kildoag side maintained throughout the rest of the match in what proved to be a comfortable win.

There were three Long’s SuperValu league games as well- Killyclooney regaining the winning thread with a 46-run success over bottom-of-the-table Burndennett.

Blayde Capell was in the runs again- 58 for the South African here- with Giles Moan adding 23 and Alan Colhoun 19 in their total of 144 all out.

John McGettigan (4-8), Mark Pollock (3-30) and Corey Roulston (2-46) did the damage with the ball for ‘Dennett, but once again the batting failed to fire in reply.

Niall McDonnell’s 32 was by some way the best of their 98 all out; Giles Moan (4-20), Kenzie Hall (3-23) and Mark Gordon (2-6) ensuring a comfortable win for ‘Clooney.

St Johnston are now right in the mix in the top-eight race after the Donegal men edged past Bonds Glen by 22 runs in a game reduced to 29 overs.

David Lapsley hit 59, Graeme McCarter 46 and David Anthony 38 in a total of 193-7; two wickets apiece for David Cooke and Heinrich Roberts for the Bee Gees.

David Cooke (52*) and Raymond Curry (51) along with Matty Barr (29) did what they could to keep their side in it, however McCarter’s 3-39 helped get the Saints over the line.

And Glendermott posted just their second league win of the season at home to Ballyspallen.

Manav Chhabra made 40, Ian Cooke 34, Gihan Cloete 33 and Ben Mills 26 in the Rectory side’s 211-9- James Thompson best with the ball (4-28) for ‘Spallen.

Andy Christie’s 45 along with cameos from skipper Thompson (22) and Stuart Kennedy (20) kept the home side honest, however 4-34 for JJ O’Brien and 2-25 from Alan Johnson saw the Bonds Street outfit collect the points.