Newbuildings claim historic Senior Cup win in front of over 4,000!
The party was still in full swing in Newbuildings on Sunday night, more than 24 hours after Gareth McKeegan’s men made it third time lucky in the Sports Hub Senior Cup final as they beat Donemana by five wickets in an entertaining encounter at Beechgrove.
It was a game played in front of one of the biggest - if not the biggest – crowds in history for a domestic game with over 4,000 supporters attending across the two days.
Friday’s persistent rain meant that only one innings was possible on Day 1 and it saw the Holm side, sent in to bat by the Newbuildings skipper, recover from 96-5 to post a competitive total of 173. Levi Dougherty made an impressive 50 in the middle order after Raymond Curry (39) and Rumesh Buddhika (22) had got the scoreboard moving but those apart, only William McClintock with 15 had made it into double figures. Gregory McFaul was excellent with the new ball; he claimed 4-32 with Ryan Hunter adding 3-26 and Trent McKeegan 2-28.
Battle was joined again on Saturday morning and in fairness it turned out to be a fairly similar story in Newbuildings’ reply. Overseas man Samarth Seth anchored the innings with a controlled 58 (8 fours) but only Ross Dougherty (23) and Jason Dunn (21) contributed elsewhere.
That was before former Donemana player, Johnny Thompson, arrived in the middle and with his side in a bit of trouble at 158-8, ‘JT’ smacked 4 fours and 3 sixes in his even-time 48 that allowed the batting side to take an 18-run first innings lead into the second half.
Following Friday’s early abandonment, the hours lost meant each side now faced a maximum of 34 overs and thankfully, with blue skies overhead, the match was to be completed within the two days.
Donemana soon put the deficit behind them but no sooner had they done that than they lost skipper McClintock for 15. Buddhika followed soon after but despite Curry battling hard for 27, the middle order gave way. Thompson backed up his late rally with 3-21 with Trent McKeegan (2-29) and McFaul (2-35) providing good support.
Good late work from David O’Sullivan (26) and William McBrine (18) finally saw Donemana’s lead past the three figures and the final reckoning was that Newbuildings would need 109 to lift the famous old trophy.
As with the previous three innings however, it wasn’t long before the nerves set in, O’Sullivan, Gary Neely, Gary McClintock and Dean Mehaffey all among the wickets as the batting side were again reduced to 64-5.
Seth now looked the key and the Indian batsman was ready to rise to the occasion on what now appears to have been his last game (for this season at least) as his 46 not out and 13 from ‘JT’ steered their side to a famous win.
Chairman Brian Dougherty and President Connie McAllister took some time to temper the excitement of the crowd long enough to make the presentation to the clearly delighted (and relieved) captain McKeegan.
Andy steers Ireland to historic Test win
Meanwhile Donemana all-rounder and North West Warriors’ captain, Andy McBrine, was the toast of Irish cricket on Sunday evening after a Man-of-the-Match performance in Ireland’s four wicket win over Zimbabwe in this weekend’s historic Test match at Stormont.
‘Scra’ picked up 3-37 as the visitors were bowled out for 210 in Thursday’s first innings and then scored 28 valuable runs as he and Barry McCarthy posted a 47-run last wicket stand that allowed their side to carry a 40-run lead into the second innings. And it was there that the 31-year old really made his mark on the contest.
Andy bowled 23 overs, returning superb figures of 4-38 as the visitors knocked off the deficit and gave themselves a chance of victory. The second innings closed on 197 all out, leaving their hosts an awkward 158 on a fourth innings pitch to win.
Ireland were in all sorts of trouble overnight and at 21-5 the game looked up. Everyone knows the fight in the Warriors skipper however and slowly but surely, McBrine and Lorcan Tucker launched a spirited fightback. They put on a 96-run partnership before Tucker was bowled by Blessing Muzarabani for 56, but the Tyrone man was going nowhere.
Joined by Mark Adair, that pair took Ireland over the winning line, Andy unbeaten on 55 with his batting partner adding an important 24*. An historic win in an historic few days for cricket in the north west, and celebrated nowhere more than in Donemana.