CRICKET: The Royal Liver Irish Senior Cup, Irish cricket's only all-island competition, has been dominated by the Northern clubs since its inauguration in 1982. North Down and Lurgan have won the Cup three times each, Brigade, Limavady, Downpatrick and Waringstown have all been victorious in two finals, while Donemana, Strabane, NICC and St Johnston are the Northern one-time winners.
Only two southern clubs have managed to break this stranglehold: Phoenix defeated Donemana in the 1986 final, while North County coasted past Cliftonville at Waringstown last year. And no matter what will be the eventual outcome of next Friday's final at Castle Avenue, the cup will remain in Dublin - and in northside Dublin - as Malahide and Rush meet in what is certain to be a hard-fought contest which will appeal to all cricket followers, and which, incidentally, will be covered live by radio NEAR FM 101.6.
Malahide have won 10 and lost 20 Senior Cup matches over the years and have contested two semi-finals, both against Brigade, in 1993 and 1996.
Remarkably, until this year Rush had never won a match in the competition, having lost a total of seven appearances in all.
Friday's unique final gives proof, if proof were needed, that there is a vast difference between league and knockout competitions, no matter what sport is involved. In this summer's highly competitive Whitney Moore & Keller Leinster Senior 55 Overs League, Malahide are second last in Section A, while Rush are similarly placed in the Section B table, yet both have dramatically upped their performances in the course of the Senior Cup campaign.
But, it must be said, southern records in the Irish Senior Cup campaigns down the years have been modest, both in individual and team terms. Leinster reached three finals and lost them all; they were defeated by NICC in the first cup competition in 1982 and more recently were beaten by Brigade and Limavady in 1996 and 1997, while Clontarf lost the 1990 final to Lurgan.
The ebullient Decker Curry tops the batting records with 260 not out for Limavady against CYM in 1998 and the only southern players to figure in that list are Chris Kuggeleijn (who went on to play Test cricket for his native New Zealand) who hit 169 for Pembroke against North Fermanagh in 1983 and Leinster's Mark Jones, who scored 143 against Lurgan in 1997.
The best southern bowlers are Australian Marc Jones who took six for 13 for Clontarf against Donemana last year, followed by Kenny Carroll and Maurice Whelan of Railway Union, Nick Riches of Carlisle and North County's Conor Armstrong who all had slightly more expensive six-wicket hauls.
Donemana scored the highest team total with 394 for eight against Phoenix in 1991. The southern clubs who figure in that category are Merrion (343 for six against Cork Harlequins in 1996), Leinster (334 for six against Lurgan in 1997), YMCA (329 for seven against Phoenix in 1997) and Malahide (312 for eight against Crindle in 1994).
