When victory is almost within your grasp, defeat is all the more painful when it slips away and you feel powerless to prevent it. Defending a total of 184, Malahide had Leinster 8 wickets down with just over 70 runs short of their target a fair reflection of a good bowling performance but those of us with a long experience of Leinster Cricket knew that whilst Kevin O'Herlihy was at the crease then Leinster were always in the game and so it proved. Kevin has always been a high class player ( really not sure what he's doing in Division 12) but he hadn't played for well over a year, it's just a pity that he didn't leave his comeback for another week ! His 59 not out guided Leinster to victory and his innings was full of high class shots no matter who was bowling at him. Even though it was painful to watch it was difficult not to admire a master craftsman pacing an innings to perfection.
Batting first, Malahide's total of 184 for 6 in their 40 overs was decent but was probably about 20 short of what it should have been. A superb opening partnership of 100+ between Malcolm Ogilvy (48) and Riley Shoebridge (45) laid the foundations but when both were out in fairly quick succession and David O'Halloran ran himself out the innings lost some momentum. Alex Davies batted well for his 23 not out but 210 to 215 should have been the target. After an excellent match tea, Malahide made a great start in the field. Even by his own high standards, Howard Askew bowled superbly, he bowled one of the Leinster openers with a ball that pitched on middle and just took the off bail....poetry in motion  and his final figures of 2 for 17 (good though they were) didn't really do his bowling justice. Malahide continued to take wickets, Mal Ogilvy took an outstanding catch to remove the Leinster Captain and David O'Halloran also produced a stunning reflex catch. Ryan Condron once again showed why he is the leading wicket taker in the 5th XI with a good spell of bowling in the face of some big hiiting from the Leinster middle order, his figures of 3 for 40 show his increasing consistency. Alex Davies also bowled with good pace and skill and Riley Shoebridge again was a commanding presence behind the stumps. It all looked so positive until Kevin O'Herlihy and Marty Block came together for the 9th wicket and the rest is history as they say !.....Yes once again very disappointing but the growing contributions of the youth players in the side are proof positive that the 5th XI project is heading in the right direction.

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