Waterside showdown in North West Senior Cup final

This year’s North West senior cup showpiece will be an all-Waterside affair after Brigade and Glendermott emerged victorious from Sunday afternoon’s semi-finals.
Glendermott players celebrate after taking another wicket against Ballyspallen.Glendermott players celebrate after taking another wicket against Ballyspallen.
Glendermott players celebrate after taking another wicket against Ballyspallen.

It turned out to be a fantastic weekend for the Beechgrove boys who now also have one hand on the Premier Division trophy having also beaten Bready at Magheramason on Saturday.

They didn”t get things all their own way at the Bleachgreen on Sunday either but an unbroken 76-run stand between Kyle Magee and David Murdock was enough to see Brigade book their place in the final.

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The home side made 193 as they batted first with a Ciaran Curley half century the best of it. Ryan Brolly chipped in with 30 and Peter Harrigan 25 while Johnny Thompson (3-42) and Iftikhar Hussain (2-8 from 10 overs) were best with the ball.

David Barr continued his excellent run of form as he made 50 at the top of the visitors’ order but it was Magee with 72* who was the thorn in Ardmore’s side for the second successive season in this competition.

Murdock’s 41 (2 fours and 4 sixes) moved things along quickly when the tempo needed to rise as this pair eased their side into next month’s decider.

At the Rectory, a blistering start from the home side’s bowlers changed the dynamic of this semi-final from a very early stage.

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A pacy opening burst from Keshan Wijerathne had Ballyspallen in all sorts of trouble early on with only 9 runs on the board and 4 wickets down.

Jamie Millar’s 29 and 18 from Graham Kennedy in the middle order helped to stabilise things for a while, however a couple of wickets apiece for Reece Laird and Alan Johnson turned things back Glendermott’s way very quickly.

Overseas man Wijerathne finished with figures of 4 for 19 as the visitors were bowled out for 93 and in front of a decent home crowd that target was never going to trouble the Bond Street side.

An opening stand between Bob Robinson (46) and Gordon Montgomery (24) broke the back of the chase before

Jason Lynch (19) finished the job.

Millar picked up two wickets to add to his earlier runs but it was all in vain as Adam McDaid’s men simply never recovered from that devastating start.

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