Flemings ‘Saints’ aim for ‘Legend’ status

People who know about these things assure me that up until recently, the last time St. Johnston won through to a cricket cup final was 1987.

There's an old saying that all things come to those who wait, but few could have imagined that in the past few weeks the Donegal club would have made their merry way into no fewer than FOUR of this season's deciders.

The Sperrin Springs Cup was first up and Andrew Fleming's side certainly got that particular big day off to a boisterous start after the skipper played a starring role with both bat and ball as they accounted for Bond’s Glen in comfortable fashion.

The party that followed looked sure to go on for a while but four days later the ‘Saints’ travelled to Ballymagorry and made the short journey back out past Rossgier with the Midweek Cup proudly on display after they beat a Bready XI.

Fast forward another few days and Killyclooney made the trip to Donegal in the semi-final of the Sammy Jeffrey Cup and the result was the same as the hosts won again this time by double scores before the icing went on the cake on Sunday.

A strong Woodvale side came to town and would have started very warm favourites to book their place in the Ulster Shield final, but despite a marvellous knock of 82 from the visitors' Simon Johnston, an unbroken 100-run partnership between Ian MacBeth and David Fleming capped an unbelievable fortnight for the ‘Saints’ and set up another final for them, this time against Saintfield at Burndennett in early August.

Although their league form has been decidedly patchy, there is still every chance that St. Johnston will be involved in the outcome of that as well and it is clear that like a lot of other Division Two sides, the camaraderie and team spirit has counted for plenty.

Players like the MacBeth brothers and both Flemings have been grinding it out for a few seasons now, but Rammohan Goud and Sachin Dixit have made a major impact this season. Rene Cole and James Robinson have been back to something like their best as well and Malachy Porter's return has added a bit of experience.

It was noticeable that in his speech at Beechgrove, the skipper singled out Stuart Laplsey for special praise and rightly so. The Saints' stalwart can usually be found cutting or rolling the square, updating the board or doing whatever needs to be done and yet accepts the situation when he loses his place in the team with good grace. Fleming suggested that every club needs a Stuart Lapsley and he's not far wrong.

With two trophies already on display at the Donegal venue, few will want to bet against a third and maybe even a fourth landing too before the season is out.

Major improvements are believed to be in the pipeline for the ground over the coming season and the club will agree that some are more pressing than others, particularly if they go on to win promotion, but that is not a topic for today.