There were two coach loads of Donemana supporters and more than a few cars full of players, alickadoos and camp followers of the Co. Tyrone club arriving on Saturday morning. Merrion made them welcome, and provided them with a lively track for the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup semi final.

The good burghers of Dublin 4 welcomed them too, but wished to do without the free fertilizer provided for their beautifully tended gardens by the departing Limavady supporters a couple of weeks ago, some of whom were taken short before they reached the top of Anglesea Road.

Merrion won the toss and reckoned that Matt Petrie might be a handful early on. He was, and had Jordan McGonigle caught behind in his second over. But a rash of wides and a few loose deliveries gave Graham Boyd and Azhar Shaffique every opportunity to get the scoreboard moving.

Boyd likes them on his legs, and had swiftly advanced to 31 when first change Pradeep Ladang swung one from leg to middle to trap Boyd lbw. 66/2 became 70/4 as Ritchie McBrine ran himself out and Shaffique (11) stepped across a straight one from Jeff Short.

McBrine père (Junior to you) dug in, and slowly took the score past 100 with Dwayne McGarrigle. Junior favours the square cover slash, and was lucky to survive as he mistimed such a shot between three fielders.

Dwayne should have been stumped, but perished next ball, bowled by Tiktish Patel's quicker one. James joined his younger twin, taking the score from 111 to 131 before carving Patel to short third man.

Junior was now in his element, working the ones and twos, hitting the odd boundary, and was well partnered by nephew Dean Olphert. The score was 169 when Olphert (16) was caught behind off Petrie. Andy Britton made a nuisance of himself to add 25 more runs before swinging unsuccessfully at Petrie.

Richard Dougherty didn't take long to run himself out, but he and Steven Dunn helped Junior to take the total to 203 in the 50 overs, 30 better than they should have got, thanks to Willie Wides, 37 out of 46 extras. Petrie took 3/37 off his 10, Patel 2/25 off 10 and Lavang 1/29 off 9.

During tea I told Junior that his 71* might just have given them enough, if they bowled and fielded as well as I know they can. I couldn't find Danny Parkinson, so a few nice sangers and cakes came my way, for which many thanks. The Merrion crumpet was, as ever, of a high standard.

The Donemana opening bowlers, Britton and Dunn, were lively enough, but didn't pose too many problems for Richie (Ronnie) Barker and Pradeep Lavang. When the score was 49, Dunn switched to round the wicket and immediately had Ladang lbw for 20.

Shortly afterwards, the McBrines were called into the attack but, believe it or not, Junior dropped Barker at slip off James (a first for me, seeing Junior spill a catch), and then had Ronnie dropped by Britton at cover.

The second team opener's response was to thump Junior for three fours, and Shaffique took over from the Ballsbridge end to no great effect. Ben Ackland was batting carefully, having seen his mate to 50 and the score past 100.

Then Barker, on 60, played all round one from Shaffique. Immediately Junior was back for another go, to complement fellow slow left-armer McGonigle, who had settled in from the Donnybrook end. 114/2 became 116/3 when Kade Beasley missed a full toss from McGonigle and was lbw.

On 127 Dom Joyce slapped Junior to Shaffique at cover, and on the same score Ackland (25) edged Jordy to James McBrine at slip. It was taken very low, and the batsman stood his ground to allow the umpires to confirm the catch had carried. They did, and he departed to some fond farewells.

This was a game that half an hour previously we hurlers on the ditch had been saying was Merrion's to lose. They were making a very good job of it.

Jeff Short swished Jordy very high and no futher than Junior at mid wicket; Simon Morrissey advanced down the wicket and was stumped; Matt Petrie gave Jordy his Guildford Four-for. That was 136/8, and Cillian O'Donoghue kicked Junior off middle to give the old campaigner a Colombia Three-for.

We were debating Junior's age, many of us putting him in his late forties, approaching fifty, but not from the same direction as is Nazeer. Matt Dwyer stated emphatically that he was both older and prettier than Junior. That was a real conversation stopper.

The Donemana spectators, for so long as quiet as mice, now were in full voice. Patel and Keaveney prolonged the agony, but even with the help of Willie Wides (25) couldn't get the score past 166. When Patel slogged the fifth ball of the 45th over to Shaffique, there were roars of approval and a pitch invasion by those who could still walk.

Jordan McGonigle took 4/16 off his 10, and Junior McBrine 3/19 off his 10 (12 in one over). The seamers were very ordinary, but not as ordinary as Merrion's batsmen from numbers 4 to 9. Perhaps a few more of the Second XI should have played - David Drane was standing around blocking the sunlight!

So now Donemana take on North County in the final, which is rumoured to be taking place in Malahide. It's a nice ground, but the tracks are a bit dead; however, it has a bar that's very difficult to get out of. And on one route back to the M1, half way to the Darndale Hilton, there's Kinsealy agricultural research station, home of experts on garden fertlizer!

Sunday dawned bright, breezy and cool. After a breakfast of Bolognese on Chinese noodles (I'd run out of spaghetti) I drove out to Rush to see if they could reverse the previous day's result in their WMK Section A encounter with North County.

The state of the County side, depleted (of Botha, Garry, Mooney and Strydom) and considerably the worse for wear, suggested that this was a distinct possibility. After they had won the toss, batted, and finished the fourth over at 3/3, the Russians looked to be in business.

Shane Plant had been bowled by Tipu Gull, and then in successive balls Conor Armstrong edged Shahid to Tipu at slip and Brian Shields was caught behind. Adrian Murphy and Richie Lawrence batted without incident to take the score to 33.

Shahid was really fired up. He rattled the flap of Lawrence's pad and launched into a three-part appeal as the batsmen ran a leg bye. His disbelief at failing to convince Gordon Black of its out-ness turned to ecstasy as Murphy (14) nicked the next one to Tipu.

On his return, Murph confirmed that not only was the previous ball going a foot over the top, it had pitched a foot outside leg stump, but try telling that to Shahid! Dara Armstrong pottered about for a single before giving a return catch to Dan van Zyl.

On the same score, 46, Lawrence (28) nicked off to Nazeer. Eddie Richardson came and went, lbw to van Zyl, and captain for the day, Denver D'Cruz, was careless in his running to be beaten by a direct hit from Tipu (to go with his three catches). County were 62/8.

The Shiel brothers, new to me, Tomás, left-handed in the red helmet, and Conor, right-handed in the blue helmet, added 22 runs before Conor (15) was lbw to Lionel Jansen. Dwayne Harper then reminded people that he can hold a bat, reaching 17 when Mossie Shiel was lbw to Shahid for 8.

County were all out for 103 in 37.2 overs. Tipu returned 1/14, Shahid 4/34, van Zyl 2/21, Nazeer 1/21 and Jansen 1/9. Rush had half an hour or so to bat before tea, and would have hoped to reach 30-odd for no more than two down.

The two down was quickly arranged with only 14 on the board, Dan van Zyl inside edging Harper onto his middle stump, and Fintan McAllister lbw to Denver D'Cruz. Tipu Gull and Eoghan Conway took the score to 28, when Conway was lbw to Harper.

Gull, who'd looked in good nick, edged Eddie Richardson through to Dara Armstrong for 14, and it was 32/4. County were in business. Shahid ran himself out (déjà vu all over again), and Naz was lbw to Harper, both in the tenth over, at which point the umpires called tea at 33/6. County were in the box seats.

After a cuppa, Niall Mullen was caught behind and Patrick Sheridan bowled, both off Richardson. Lionel Jansen was given out caught behind off Harper, and left reluctantly, wiggling his pad. Umpire Nigel Parnell confirmed to the scorers that it was a catch.

That was 40/9, and Roy Armstrong and David Wappleton (crazy name, nice boy!) compiled a merry tenth wicket partnership of 16 before Wappleton wafted Harper to mid wicket where Mossie Shiel took a good low catch.

There were only 43 runs off the bat in 17.5 overs. D'Cruz took 1/8 off 2 overs, Harper a Michelle Five-for 30, and Richardson a Guildford Three-for 16 off 7 overs. Rush were shell-shocked as the County boys ran down to the village to buy up the lottery tickets. For once, Mork and Mindy were speechless.

What did we do before mobile phones? As I planned my route from Rush to Castle Avenue, Stella Downes texted me to say that ‘Tarf were chasing 221 in The Village, contrary to the information provided by the LCU (Looney Clowns United?) on their webside, and in the Irish Times.

I got there shortly after Eoghan Delany had been dismissed for 31 and Adrian D'Arcy had passed fifty. D'Arcy was batting beautifully, secure in the fact that Rod Hokin was working the ball around, feeding him loads of strike.

He progressed serenely into the nineties, when on 93 he lofted James Henry high to long on. Adam Shehabedeen steadied himself under the ball and dropped it. It trickled over the boundary, and the lesson was learnt. Three singles got him to his first Senior ton. May there be many more.

Clontarf won by 9 wickets, rounding off a successful weekend. There was even good news from Beaumont hospital of Greg Molins's finger: it was badly dislocated, not broken.

Willie Dwyer (older and prettier than James McBrine?) phoned me to tell me that he had starred for The Hills as they made up for their cup defeat to ‘Tarf the previous day by beating Merrion by 5 wickets at Anglesea Road.

Five of my next six visits will be to matches in the Eurovision Championships, starting on Friday. The matches are sponsored by Fingal County Council, who are hosting a launch in the Council Offices in Swords at 6:30 on Thursday evening. All are welcome: parking is provided behind the Court House.

As part of the preparations, the Kenure ground in Rush will host a match on Wednesday between Italy and Arthur Vincent's XI (Ben Dunk, Matt Petrie and some of the usual suspects), starting at 11:00 in the morning. Championship matches start at 10:45 a.m.

Don't forget that the rescheduled Lewis Hohn Williams Alan Murray 20:20 Cup finals are in Sydney Parade next Sunday, starting at 11:00 a.m. With a bit of luck, somebody from the LCU might show up!