CRICKET LEINSTER SENIOR CUP:THE 60-OVER-a-side format of the LHW Leinster Senior Cup can prove draining on both players and spectators alike but for those gathered at Malahide on Saturday evening it proved worth waiting for as this year's decider went right down to the wire.

The very last ball indeed, with North County requiring two runs to win after Merrion had earlier made 272 for seven off their allotment.

Eddie Richardson was on strike after hitting 34 off 32 balls, while Dom Joyce had the ball in hand after his first five deliveries had gone for eight runs.

A single would not have been enough for North County as a tie would have seen Merrion winning on fewer wickets lost. But Joyce made sure the rulebooks were not required as he clipped the top of Richardson’s off stump with a cracking delivery to earn the Ballsbridge club their third senior cup title, and first since 1960.

If Joyce provided the cool, experienced head at the finale, then 17-year-old Tyrone Kane displayed all his promise in a man-of-the-match display. His innings of 66 off 56 balls added some vital impetus at the end of Merrion’s innings.

And it was to be his second spell with the ball from the Castle end which changed the outcome of the match as he claimed the wicket of Greg Hay after the New Zealander had made 89, before adding the prize scalp of Irish international John Mooney and Adam Coughlan to finish with figures of three for 32 from nine overs.

Josh Reeves (29 off 26) and Eddie Richardson added 48 in six overs as the balance swung yet again, only for a late collapse that cost them the chance of a second senior cup title.