Bready and Brigade claim Sam McConnell Cup victories

Brigade celebrate their Sam McConnell Charity Cup Final win over Eglinton. Picture by Barry Chambers

This is the first time there was both a men's and women's shoot-out and the format seemed to work very well in front of around 250 spectators.

The girls went first and Alana Dalzell’s 2021 league and cup double winners were on the mark right away as they saw off Fox Lodge in the early game.

A half-century partnership between Abbie McKnight (33) and Kayleigh Barnard (29) helped the Magheramason side post a competitive 93-4 from their 20 overs. The pair batted really well despite Lucy Neely (2-22) and Mollie Devine (1-7) bowling 8 solid overs between them.

Bready celebrate the Sam McConnell Women's Charity Cup win over Fox Lodge. Picture by Lawrence Moore

The Foxies never really got going in reply, skipper Devine (12) the only player to make double figures in a total of 48-8 in their 20.

Dalzell returned superb figures of 3-4 from her 3 overs with Mansi Bhavsar bowling well to claim 3-14 in a comfortable win for Bready.

The second game also resulted in a fairly straightforward win after Brigade restricted Eglinton to 98 all out in the men’s final.

It took a late, rear-guard action from Richard Wylie (30) and Dylan McElhatton (16) to get the villagers that far- two wickets each for Ryan Barr, David Barr, Iftikhar Hussain and Ryan Macbeth doing the damage for the Irish T20 champions.

Brigade’s reply started very brightly with Ifti (36) and David Barr (13) putting on 42 for the opening stand. Jack Martin (3-11) and Wylie (2-28) gave Eglinton some hope when they claimed a flurry of quick wickets, however Graeme McCarter steered his side home with an unbeaten 36 as they won by 5 wickets in the penultimate over.

The action starts to come thick and fast after this as the North West Warriors are in Dublin on Tuesday, before we're into a double-header of league fixtures at the weekend following Saturday's postponements.