CRICKET: The dominance of north Leinster clubs in Irish cricket is on show today in the Irish Senior Cup semi-finals, with only one team coming from south of the Liffey and none from outside the province.
Defending champions North County finally secured their passage into the last four when they beat Strabane at Inch on Wednesday and now make the short trip from Balrothery to Kenure to take on Rush in what could be an interesting pairing.
County will surely go into the game as raging favourites, Rush being an inconsistent side who have been struggling of late, particularly in the WM League.
But this is cup cricket, not league, and so Rush will feel they have as good a chance as ever of beating their more fashionable neighbours.
Shahid Iqbal has been in fine form recently, particularly with the ball, the highlight coming with a spell of nine overs against Malahide that yielded two wickets for just six runs.
Sadat Gull, Naseer Shoukat, Brían O'Rourke, Fintan McAllister and William Porterfield have all got the ability to make an impression at this level, even against a side with as many stars as North County.
Home advantage seems to be more important to Rush than most teams and no doubt there will be sizeable and vociferous home support hoping to witness a cup upset.
Just don't bank on it. County will still be reeling from their surprise defeat to Malahide in the league last week, not to mention their loss to The Hills in the Antalis Cup final, and will be keen to make sure they don't stumble on this occasion.
In the other semi, in-form Railway Union play out-of-form Phoenix at the Park in a game that should go the way of the visitors.
Meanwhile, the WM League is hotting up, with North County and late starters Clontarf vying for top spot of Section A. There is a full programme of fixtures in the league scheduled for Sunday but none will be more enthralling than those two top sides battling it out at Castle Avenue. Tarf had a dreadful start to the season but have lost only one game in this league and lie just six points adrift of County.
The fact County have a big cup semi-final the day before will test their fitness, especially given three of their front-line players have just returned from a gruelling European Championship campaign with the Irish team during the week.
Third-placed YMCA, who have a game in hand over the leaders, can keep their faint title hopes alive if they beat table-proppers Phoenix in the park.
And The Hills face Rush at Milverton as both sides seek to avoid relegation.
In Section B, Railway Union should be too much for Munster Reds to handle, while CYM play Leinster at Terenure and Pembroke entertain Old Belvedere at Sydney Parade.
WM League Section A
P W T NR L BP Pts Nth County 6 5 0 0 1 27 127
Clontarf 6 5 0 0 1 21 121
YMCA 5 3 0 0 2 9 69
Malahide 5 2 0 0 3 12 52
Rush 5 2 0 0 3 10 50
The Hills 5 2 0 0 3 9 49
Phoenix 6 0 0 0 6 7 7
WM League Section B
P W T NR L BP Pts
Railway U 7 7 0 0 0 14 154
Merrion 7 6 0 0 1 23 143
Leinster 7 3 0 0 4 22 82
Munster R 7 3 0 0 4 13 73
Pembroke 6 2 0 1 3 11 59
CYM 7 2 0 1 4 3 51
O Belvedere 7 0 0 0 7 9 9
