Coleraine and Donemana yet to seal group wins
THE wait continues for Coleraine and Donemana to confirm their place in the Senior Cup semi-finals after their winning runs came to an end on Saturday.
Donemana were left with no points when their Long’s Supervalu T20 Championship game at Ardmore was abandoned by an unplayable ground but Coleraine crashed to a five wickets defeat by Eglinton at Sandel Lodge.
The Bannsiders were bowled out for 65 — Graham Hume with 15 and new signing Will Smale with 14, scoring almost half the runs, as Simon Dunn took 5-16.
Although Hume responded with three wickets at a cost of just four runs, Tommy Orr with 27 ensured Eglinton claimed their second win with two overs to spare. Another victory next Saturday will keep the pressure on Coleraine but they will still seal top spot in Group 1 with 23 points against Ballyspallen on Sunday.
Donemana will be almost there as well if they beat Killyclooney in their rearranged round two game tomorrow night, although Clooney got off the mark with a 141 runs hammering of Bonds Glen.
Mark Gordon top scored with 62, which included eight sixes, in the winners’ 190-5, which also included 35 from Darren Moan and 21 not out by Timmy Dougherty, and 17-year-old Jason Wallace then took a hat-trick on his way to figures of 5-12 as the Bee Gees were bowled out in 13 overs.
Brigade and Newbuildings are set for a probable top place shoot-out on Saturday after victories over St Johnston and Glendermott, respectively.
Both had to be satisfied with 23 points as Matty Barr hit 62 — four fours and four sixes — for Glendermott to almost match the 67 of Newbuildings skipper Gareth Mckeegan (above), which included four fours and five sixes as the group leaders defended 130-6 by 18 runs.
David Lapsley — 52 — scored the only half century at The Boathole but it was in vain as St Johnston finished 17 runs short of Brigade’s 126-8. Ifti Hussain top scored with 31 for last year’s double winners but David Barnard kept it interesting with four wickets for the Saints. Bready remain in pole position in Group 3 but they were given a scare by Burndennett before completing a two wickets win in the 18th over, despite chasing only 96. Dean Mccloskey took the last four wickets as the visitors were bowled out in exactly 20 overs but, after a half century partnership between David Rankin (25) and Jamie Magee (32), Bready collapsed from 58-2 to 84-8. However, Khayat Bhavsar and Conor Olphert
stayed together to see them home without further loss.
Fox Lodge kept the pressure on the Magheramason side with a 43 runs victory at home to Strabane. Jason Milligan’s 33 was the top score in the game and, with Aaron Heywood, Johnny Robinson and Adam Walker each taking two wickets, the Red Caps were bowled out for 89.
Although only the four group winners will contest the Senior Cup semi-finals, there is still plenty to play for with the runners-up in each group contesting for the Faughan Valley Cup, the third place team going through to the Sam Jeffrey semis and the remaining teams playing for the Eric Cooke Cup.