Kalkeran Kieran
Dundalk Cricket Club have had good reasons to celebrate this week with two remarkable wins in the space of one week.
The 1st and 2nd teams had both been in the doldrums this season, the 1st team have had only one win all season in Leinster Division 8 and the 2nd team only two at the beginning of the season in Division13, both were sitting in the relegation zone.
Things took a dramatic turn for the better on the bank holiday Monday of 4th August when the 2nds faced Rush 4. There was some history to this fixture Dundalk 2 had faced Rush 4 in the opening match of the season and been comprehensively beaten so Dundalk were out to exact revenge and it came in devastating manner.
Having won the toss, Captain John Finnegan elected to bat and sent in the proven opening partnership of Kalkeren Kieran and Mike Waterman. A steady start was dismantled after Waterman was bowled by A. Neary for 6 and Kieran followed a short while later on 2. Boomeswaran Shanmugam stepped in at number three and made a great contribution the innings, top scoring with 25 before being run out looking for a quick single. Waleed Shahid and Derek Turner steadied the ship for Dundalk, the pair keeping their wickets before departing for 7 and 12 respectively. After Shahid was bowled by O Marsh, Dundalk collapsed on themselves, losing 4 cheap wickets in a row, three of them ducks. Samuel Dhinakaran and Kevin Waterman valiantly batted on a 10th wicket stand but the run out of Waterman left Dundalk stranded on just 74 runs.
After tea, it appeared that the game was dead and gone for Dundalk, with one of their lowest totals of the season, but an exceptional display with the ball from Lethin Matthew and from the team fielding as a whole secured a vital win for the home side.
Matthew dispatched the first two batsmen both for zero, bowling maiden after maiden, piling on the pressure for Rush. When Shanmugam trapped Rush captain An Ellison lbw in the fifth over, the advantage had swung in Dundalk’s favour. When Matthew picked up his third, fourth then fifth wicket it was, it was clear that Rush were going to be on the losing end. Pressure reached boiling point for Rush quickly, and they paid the price for it, with Michael Mullen combining with Finnegan to run out three batsmen in the field, while Kevin Waterman put them to the sword on the crease, sealing a famous victory for Dundalk.
The final score Dundalk 2nds 74 all out for Rush 4ths 35 all out a winning margin of 39 runs and enough to pull the team out of the relegation zone, if there are further wins in the remaining weeks of the season it should see the side stay up.
On Wednesday 6th August it was the turn of the 1st team, who were playing North Kildare 2nds in the semi-final of the Dick O’Neill Cup.
The opening pair of Jiwan Jodhani and Waleed Shahid did not last long, Jodhani bowled by a beautiful delivery from the pace blower Andrew Chase in the 3rd over of their innings. Dundalk failed to make any impact in the early overs of the match with wickets falling consistently, although the partnership of Boomee Shanmugam and Shahid began to grow as the pair top scored with 38 and 24 respectably. The partnership was broken in the middle overs of the game and the rest of the batting order struggled to make much impact on the total score, Dundalk being bowled out for a below average score of 99.
Play continued after drinks as North Kildare openers Lucy Small and Sean Dalton got off to a fast start, picking up the singles rather easily from Division 8’s leading bowler Andrew Williams. Williams bowled extremely well, and set a fast tempo to begin with. Defending a low total of 99 was never going to be easy for the Louth side, Captain Neil O’Callaghan bowling tidily as he finished on 0-25 from his 4 overs. The skipper then decided to bowl youngster Kalkeren Kieran, who went on to bowl the well set opener Dalton and then trapped the big hitter Chase lbw in his following over. At that stage it looked like the match was firmly in the balance, but in T20 cricket the batting side are usually in control, it wasn’t to be this time around. There was a slight scare for Dundalk in the closing stages when two consecutive boundaries were hit off bowler Sajan Jeyaseelan, who fought back well to take the wicket next ball. Dundalk continued to set high standards in the field as Scott Mc Donnell saved a certain four in the closing overs of the match which may have ended with Dundalk on the wrong side of the result. Shanmugam went on to hold his nerve in the final over of the match and send Dundalk into their first ever cup final.
The final score was Dundalk 1sts 99 all out for North Kildare 2nds 88 all out and a win by a narrow 11 runs.
Dundalk have historically not fared too well in cup competitions and this is their first time in any kind of final.
The final itself takes place on August 17th and Dundalk will face either Laois or Galway.
There should be enough momentum now for both sides to go onto further wins and although the chances of league success are now unachievable there is a real possibility that the club will be able to put the Dick O’Neill Cup in the trophy cabinet.
