...when winning the North-West Senior Cup.
It was 120 years after their initial success in the inaugural competition, way back in 1888 when they beat Donemana to win the old County Derry Cricket Union Challenge Cup.
Rain and poor weather played havoc with the arrangements and it says much for the players and the Eglinton grounds staff that they stuck to their task and produced such a competitive game. Cup finals are very special in the short careers of senior cricketers, no matter how many they play, and spectators love to see well-known personalities in the middle of the action. This final certainly had more than its fair share of big names, with some of the best players in North-West cricket in the past decade on display. Big names like Decker Curry, Ian McGregor, Stephen Smyth, the Cooke brothers David and Gordon, the McDaids, the overseas professionals, and feisty Tommy Harpur adjudicating the Man-of-the-Match Award. Add a bevy of former and current North-West players sitting around the boundary, and the match had all the ingredients of an epic, if the weather played fair.
But perhaps that was asking too much, as the game had to be pushed into a third day, and that sometimes takes away the cutting edge of a cup final. There were plenty of ifs and buts on this occasion, but at the end of the day, hot-favourities Limavady held their nerve to win by three wickets. However, it was far from the one-sided victory the formbook suggested, and on reflection, the Brigade team might feel they should have done better given the huge advantage they held at three crucial times.
Indeed, many Beechgrove supporters might feel their team lost this final rather than Limavady won it, and it’s not difficult to see why.
They might have won a one innings final given that Limavady were reeling on 82 for 6 chasing 167 and although Richard McDaid dug in deeply to salvage a small first innings lead, would he have batted so cautiously had it been a one innings final?
Brigade might also rue their Sunday batting demise after openers Hussein (80) and Wylie (58) gave them such a great start in the second innings, but their initiative was spoiled by an amazing self-destructive six run outs!
But perhaps it was the missed opportunity to run out stranded batsman David Cooke in the last innings that proved the most telling, as the experienced Limavady skipper (59 not out) played the captain’s role and went on to guide his team to victory.
Of such are winners and losers made.
I’m sure I’m not alone in questioning Tommy’s Man-of-the-Match adjudication, or maybe he wanted to compensate the losers for contributing so much and getting nothing from the final result. “Ifi’ Hussein (80) obviously batted and bowled well, but many people might feel the two players that contributed most to winning the match were Richard McDaid (66 not out) who clawed his team back into contention from the jaws of a major first innings deficit, and the gritty David Cooke who played the match-winning innings to secure the victory. Just an opinion Tommy!
It hardly mattered when the senior cup returned to the Roe Valley clubhouse as Limavady had won the major prize and can now turn their attention to pushing Donemana all the way in the second half of the league campaign.
As for Brigade, they have much to be proud of on this performance, and perhaps they are finally getting back to their old form after some disappointing results this season.
Or will they feel they let their opponents off the hook?
Clarence Hiles
Editor
