A victory by 5 wickets with over 4 overs to spare sounds like a comfortable win but Malahide had to fight every inch of the way to eventually prevail. What made the performance even more satisfying was that the Malahide team contained 7 youth players all of whom played a significant role in guiding The Village to taking the points.
Leinster won the toss and decided to have a bat , they got off to a bit of a flyer as our openers Sean O'Donohue and Glen Cosgrove took a few overs to get their radar working. However, they both soon found a good rhythm and started to reduce the scoring rate. Glen Cosgrove especially bowled with some "serious wheels" which was some effort considering it was the first time he had turned his arm over for a year. It was Sean though who made the first break through when he trapped one of the Leinster openers LBW. However, for the 2nd match in a row it was Ravi Kumar who was the star of the Malahide attack, he took 4 for 20 in his 8 overs (to follow up his 5 for 25 against The Hills) and it's not an exaggeration to say that none of the Leinster batsmen had a clue of how to deal with his Leg spin, without some dubious umpiring decisions he definitely would have had another "fivefer". He was well supported by youthful "spin twins", Ryan Condron and Riley Shoebridge (who kept wicket for the first 20 overs) who between them took 1 wicket for 27 runs in 10 overs.  Leinster eventually reached 150 for 7 in their 40 overs which reflected an excellent effort in the field by Malahide considering how lightening fast the outfield was.
We knew that a target of 151 would be a tough ask . Openers , Mal Ogilvie and 13 year old David O'Halloran got us off to a great start, but after Mal holed out to mid on, it was David and Glen Cosgrove who put together a partnership that went a long way to ensuring victory. Glen hasn't played for a year but from the first ball the talent that we all know he possesses was clear to see. He played shots alround the wicket and found the gaps in the field regularly . He put on a partnership of 79 with David and their running between the wickets was fantastic. David was out just after drinks and a few overs later Glen was out to a terrific catch at mid wicket it looked like we might struggle to get over the line. With the required run rate starting to creep up it was a really good innings of 19 by Riley Shoebridge that steadied the ship and brought Malahide to within a few runs of victory. Sean O'Donohue and Glynn Higgins were at the wicket when Malahide reached the target and it was fantastic to see Glynn hit the winning runs.
So great to get another win under our belts, really good to see Glen Cosgrove back in Malahide colours and most of all fantastic that our young players are putting in performances that are getting the 5th team over the line.

5th XI Team :  Mal Ogilvie, David O'Halloran, Glen Cosgrove, Ravi Kumar, Riley Shoebridge, Sean O'Donohue, Glynn Higgins, Jef Woods, Ryan Condron, Zak Oliver-Woods,Mike Shoebridge.

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