Fight on for final places

Cricket/Weekend Preview: It's a weekend of semi-finals for Leinster's cricketers with the LHW League (today) and Conqueror Cup (tomorrow) both down to the last four.

It is interesting that despite plenty of pre-season talk that two or three particular clubs would dominate all competitions, there is only one side, Clontarf, involved on both days. And the cup - always a good source of surprises - has three Section B teams at this penultimate stage.

The LHW League, however, has developed along more predictable lines, with the tournament favourites still in contention. North County make the trip to Sydney Parade to take on Pembroke in a match that they should win and Phoenix host Clontarf for what should be a much tighter encounter.

'Tarf will be without Bill Coghlan, who is away, but Ronan O'Reilly is likely to play despite sustaining a hamstring injury last week. Second XI captain Johan Johnson comes into the team as does Eoghan Delany, at the expense of James Flynn.

The following day will see Clontarf relinquish the tag of underdog for the one of firm favourite as they welcome Merrion to Castle Avenue in the cup.

With Ireland international Dom Joyce and the Blakeney brothers, John and Peter, cup-tied, having played for Dublin University, Merrion are far from full strength and skipper Damien Poder knows it will be a tough game.

"They stuffed us in the league earlier in the year but we are looking to reverse that trend on Sunday. I am looking forward to it, there will be a lot of pressure on them to perform," he said.

Meanwhile, in the other semi-final, nine-times winners of the Senior Cup YMCA will take on Rush who have never before got past this stage of the competition.

Don't be fooled by history, however, Rush remain favourites to progress, particularly seeing as the Kenure ground is far more suited to Rush's seam bowlers of Gull, Shaukat and Iqbal than YM's spin-dominated attack.

WEEKEND FIXTURES: Saturday: Lewis Hohn Williams League (semi-final) Phoenix v Clontarf, Pembroke v North County; Whitney Moore Keller League Section B: Old Belvedere v Leinster.

Sunday: Conqueror Senior Cup (semi-final) Rush v YMCA, Clontarf v Merrion; Whitney Moore Keller League Section A: Malahide v Railway Union.