With the influx of new players to the club last winter it was with high hopes that the fourth team began another division 8 campaign at the end of April, at home to Dundalk.  And scoring 198 was a pretty good start, with fifties for new man Kiran Pandey and fourth eleven stalwart Inder Singh. After tea (excellent as always) it was Chris "iron man" Siddell who stole all the headlines with a blistering spell of 7-11 to bowl Dundalk out for 40 and start the year with a bang.  Sadly our visit to Bagenalstown the following week was to prove fruitless, where despite Siddell's batting heroics (57) and 33 for Oisin Taylor, Malahide only posted 144.  The home side cantered home by five wickets (Howard pick of the attack with 2-24) to leave us with plenty to ponder on the road home from Carlow.
A trip to the top pitch proved to be the ideal tonic, with The Hills making 172/8 and Malahide chasing it down for the loss of seven wickets.  Oisin (41) and Herbie (39) at the top of the order laid the platform, Richie Wing (35) maintained the momentum and the ever-reliable Richie Brown got us over the line with 27 not out.  Again on the top pitch a fortnight later, another gritty run chase saw us account for Wicklow County by two wickets.  Having restricted the visitors to 143 all out (3 victims each for Herbie and Rob Chambers) Malahide's chase seemed to lose impetus following the dismissal of the Wing Commander for 26.  A doughty eighth wicket partnership between old stagers Askew (31) and Quinn (32*) however saw us to the brink, and victory was secured via a scrambled leg bye.
Away games were proving problematic at this stage of the season, with our trip to Knockharley ending in a four wicket defeat (117/6 beats 113 all out).  Twenties from Oisin, Rob and Herbie   weren't enough to set a winning total, despite two wickets each for Howard and Oisin. And our next home game against Civil Service was to finish in an agonising one wicket defeat, ending our unbeaten home run.  Malahide set a total of 167/8, with Jackson Santhosh (45) and Chris Long (38) the chief contributors.  Despite Rob Chambers fine spell (2-28) the civil servants looked like romping home until Marrtin "golden arm" Nicoll popped up with 3-16.  The last pair managed to scramble the eight runs needed to condemn the fourths to a third league defeat of the year. 
Our annual cup match was next, a trip to YMCA with (gasp) official umpires and (bigger gasp) club legend Damian "Dino" Ryan in the ranks.  173 all out (Wing 40, Dino 34, Inder 26) seemed slightly below par, and so it proved with the home side getting home for 4 wickets with two overs remaining.  Young Alex Davies impressed with the ball in his first extended bowling spell in the side.
A full month after the cup match we dusted down the whites in our next outing, against the same opposition but this time at home.  Unfortunately the result was unchanged, with YM's 195 (Herbie 3-19, 2 wickets each for Wing and Garrigan) more than enough to beat our 112 all out (twenties each for Chris Long and Winger, and Mary's only innings of the season for the fourths ending ironically in a stumping on 18).  A depleted Village travelled to the coursing track that is the home of Dundalk CC the following week and were well beaten, 269/9 versus 200/9.  A youthful opening bowling pair of Davies and David O'Halloran showed some promise for the future, each snaring two wickets, as did the slightly less youthful but no less effervescent Stephen Twaddell.  In reply Dave Symmons (69, a good score whichever way you look at it),  Johnny Brogan (28 off about ten balls) and Riley Shoebridge (23*) were the only significant contributors.
The losing habit needed to be broken, so it was with some trepidation that we welcomed Bagenalstown to the Village with a less than full strength side.  Slumping to about 60 for 6 it appeared that another loss was inevitable.  After a brief rain break however Stephen Twaddell began to set about the bowling, assisted bravely first by Glynn Higgins (a very valuable 7) and later by Jef Oliver (a composed 6 not out). Stephen managed a season's best 38 not out to help post 122/8 and give our bowlers something to work with.  And work they did, with the mighty Herbie taking 5-12 with support from Jackson (3-7) and the big H (2-11) to bowl the opposition out for 38 and allow us to romp home by 84 runs.  Not many saw that coming, even at half time!
Our trip to Leinster was called off due to monsoon conditions, so next up was a trip to Pres Bray to face Wicklow County.  Despite 51 from Inder and 17* from Scott Talbot we only managed 130 all out.  Skipper for the day Dave Symmons marshalled his bowling resources skilfully (Alex Davies impressing with 2-6) but thee home side prevailed by 4 wickets.  The day was notable for a magnificent catch by Stephen "Jonty" Twaddell at square leg: look for it on youtube I reckon.
A midweek game against table toppers (and ultimately league champions) Leinster was not the highlight of this correspondent's year: in dropping a simple enough catch I managed to dislocate my right index finger for a second time this year and had to head for the swift care clinic.  What I missed was a bit of a mismatch: Leinster's 180/8 (3 wickets for Gibbons, 2 each for Herbie and Alex) was too much for Malahide (104, Inder 23).
Next up was the return visit of Knockharley to sunny Fingal. Former KH skipper Symmons decided to sit this one out, and it proved to be a good decision on his part as the home side were cruelly beaten by three wickets in the very last over.  Our total of 193/9 was built entirely around a truly brilliant knock of 93* by Rob Chambers, the innings which those of us familiar with his game always knew he had in him.  The only pity is that, despite Rob's three wickets and Gibbons' two, we were unable to make it a match winning one.
After this body blow more was  to come in Civil Service. Winning the toss the skipper elected to field, and was once more grateful to Martin Nicoll as his 6-20 and a brace each for Howard and Inder saw CS dismissed for 114.  The pitch was tricky however, and our reply never really got going.  At 50-5 off 23 overs it was always going to be an uphill battle.  When Riley departed for 22 followed by Symmons for 25, victory seemed impossible.  And so it proved, despite some late in the day, eyes closed slogging by the captain (23*), and we fell short by only ten runs.  Still, on a brighter note, the day saw young left arm tweaker Zak Oliver-Woods make his fourth team bowling debut with three tidy overs, and both he and Ben Askew showed good batting technique and no shortage of courage at the wicket, albeit in a losing cause.  The future's bright!
Only two games left and a win was needed to stave off  the dreaded r-word.  Off to The Hills we went on the day of the Skerries motorbike races. Losing the toss and being asked to bat, the visitors made the best possible start, racing to 45-0 in jig time.  However, when Inder fell for 19, a collapse to 51-4 ensued.  And when Chris Long was dismissed for 27 it looked as if division 9 was looming for 2015.  However the lower middle order showed some good fight, beginning with Riley (25) and continuing with Howard (19*) and Quinn (29) to boost the total to 167 all out.  The final wicket was C Gibbons, out off his first ball, but not in any of the ways you might think: a perfect off drive, struck confidently to deepish mid off.  A call from the non-striker's end, a leisurely canter by the great man only to be cut short by a direct hit which found him yards short of his ground.  This indignity only spurred the Gibbon to hitherto unseen (at least on the fourths this year) heights, taking a hat trick in his 4-14 as, assisted by Rob (3-28) and Riley (2-19), he bowled us to a much needed victory, securing our division 8 status for another year.
With relegation no longer a threat we travelled to YM for our last game in good spirits.  The home side started brightly, charging to 50-0 off only ten overs. Then, for one last time (so he says!) in the black and gold, enter Martin Nicoll.  Once he trapped his first wicket plumb lbw he wasted no time in running though the card.  Assisted by some tidy left arm spin from Riley (4-16) at the other end, Martin (5-45) ensured a YM collapse to only 118 all out.  Highlight of the day was a blindingly good catch by Zak Oliver-Woods, leaping like a salmon at backward square to snaffle a full blooded pull shot from the danger man Andrew Blair-White.  Sean Drumm (with two good uns) and Dave Symmons (a skier) also came to the party fielding wise, so all in all a good day at the office.  And after a delicious curry for tea, that looked like continuing all the way to the end as Chris and Inder showed no signs of being full, tucking in to the YM bowling right from the start.  With the team on 94 and victory only 25 runs away, a tiring and injured Chris fell for 54.  Soon afterwards Inder was (contentiously) adjudged lbw for 37 to spark a mini collapse to 108 for 5.  The redoubtable Dave Symmons and Stephen Twaddell however steadied the ship and when Steve lofted a drive over mid on for the winning runs the fourths had secured victory number six for the season and finished the year with two excellent away wins.
In summary a thoroughly enjoyable year, despite a somewhat disjointed start.  We were competitive in most fixtures and with a little more nous or luck we could have won two or even three more league games. The experienced core of the side was joined by new men Symmons and Wing, former (!!!) taverner Twaddell and the young guns Shoebridge and Davies, with Zak Oliver-Woods another to look out for in 2015. Martin Nicoll will be a loss to the side if he follows through with his plans to play less cricket next year, still you never know how you'll feel in April Martin so we'll leave it there! Here's hoping a new skipper can bring the side forward next season and help bring some youngsters through for the higher teams.
Come on the Village!