In a sunny but freezing Railway Union the hosts made heavy weather of defeating a spirited Rush side. This match was a repeat of the 2006 final when Railway last won the competition.

Railway Union won the toss and elected to field. Rush appeared to be cruising and were 117 for 3 before Graham McDonnell took 5 wickets with some quick and accurate bowling. For Rush, Van Zyl and 'Tipu' Gull both made fifties but there was little support elsewhere. McDonnell finished with figures of 5 for 22 and with the assistance of Dhruv Kapoor, who took 3 for 22, dismantled Rush.

In response, Railway had to dig deep to get the win with a 47 run partnership between Conliffe and Kapoor making the difference. Amazingly, Rush gave 38 extras with S Iqbal bowling nine wides among seven legal deliveries at the beginning of his spell.

The turning point in the match came when the unfortunate Iqbal dropped Kapoor who was then on two. The 17 year old Railway man made him pay by going on to steer the hosts home. The chance was a simple caught and bowled and should have been taken.

Good bowling by Gull, who took 4 wickets, looked to have given Rush an early advantage which eventually did not materialise.  

Railway Union Captain Conor Mullen was relieved, he said, ''We batted poorly up top but we got there in the end.''

The watching Trent Johnson and Kevin O'Brien arrived back in Dublin at midday and so were unable to play. No doubt Mullen will be looking forward to adding the internationals to his team.

Result

Railway Union win by 2 wickets.

Rush 161 all out. (D Van Zyl 50, S Gull 57 G McDonnell 5-22, D Kapoor 3-22)

Railway 162 for 8 (D Kapoor 30, P Conliffe 25, S Ullah 18, S Gull 4 - 29)

Teams

Railway, T Fisher, K Carroll, G McDonnell, C Mullen, D Kapoor, M Tariq, S Ullah, P Conliffe, G Lambert, C Rendell, M Ingram

Rush, M Donnelly, E Conway, D Van Zyl, S Gull, S Iqbal, P Sheridan, L Jansen, A Butterly, N Mullen, A Iqbal, E Sheehan

Umpires - Azam Ali Baig & John Andrews 

 By Rupert Heather

 
Copyright: Cover Point