This is the stage of the competition where the Premier league sides enter the fray. Two local sides are involved one will be playing at home, the other away.
Undoubtedly the tie that will attract the biggest interest is Downpatrick’s trip to Comber to take on the holders North Down. There will I have no doubt though be a lot of interest in the outcome of the tie at The Meadow, Dundrum where the home side take on homeless Cliftonville.
Looking at the most recent game between the tow sides you could conceivably make an argument that Downpatrick are favourites to win at North Down, after all they did defeat the hosts at Comber to win the pre season North Down Twenty20 competition.
Even the most ardent Downpatrick fan is probably not going to buy that one so before they come to put a white jacket on me, (no not an umpire’s coat, but an interesting thought!) let’s look at the facts.
Prior to the first round all the talk was of David Kennedy returning to The Meadow where he won the Man of Match award in the final last year as a North Down player. Cue Ballymena to beat Downpatrick and return to play old teammates in second round.
Well Downpatrick tore up that script so why not this one as well. One simple answer I hear you say North Down are not Ballymena, fair point and one not lost on the Downpatrick captain James Cunningham:
“No doubt we are the underdogs but every dog has its day. Looking at the season to date our best performance was against Ballymena in the last round. Perhaps the fact that there is no pressure on us will bring the best out of the guys and of course we have a chance.
Week in week out we are going into games with people looking at as to produce the performances, which is exactly what is expected of North Down, on Saturday we can relax.”
A reasonable comment as for Downpatrick the Down Democrat Challenge Cup is not what this season is about, it is about an early return to the top section of NCU cricket, but on the field that is not going according to plan.
Looking at two loses out of two in the league, Cunningham makes no excused for his team:
“Batting and bowling we have been fine but our fielding has been abysmal. We have dropped too many catches and this is simply not acceptable for team with our ambitions.”
North Down captain Peter Shields will have Ryan Haire back from his duties with the Ireland Under 15 squad in the West Indies, strengthening a side that has looked awesome this season except for a brief spell against Lisburn. No I really cannot see a Downpatrick win in this one and I suspect that Cunningham would be willing to swap it for a guarantee of promotion to the Premier League anyway.
What of Dundrum can they cause the upset of the day at home to Cliftonville. Well for a start they won’t have to face Irish international Paul Stirling.
Club PRO Jeff Maguire reflects that it was 25 years ago that another Section One side with an Irish international Jimmy Kirkwood playing at the time for Lisburn came to The Meadow:
“We will certainly be giving it our best shot and we are looking forward to the visit of Cliftonville but to be honest it is not our primary objective this weekend. We play Muckamore on Sunday and a win against them would be more important to us, especially as Armagh beat them on Saturday.”
Cliftonville should be warned not to take Dundrum lightly on their own patch and have talented cricketers in the shape of captain Rodney Hassard, John Tormey, Joel Maguire and opening bowler Lee Connor.
Lisburn against CIYMS gives us a rerun of the 2006 semi-final when CI then in Section Two upset their senior opponents, this time a CI win would not be a surprise. It will be interesting to see how Lisburn cope without the prolific Gerhardt Strydom as professionals are not allowed in the cup and if Johnny Hewitt, Paul McCrum and Derek Heasley against his old club all come off, I expect to see CI in the quarterfinals.
Speaking of McCrums brother Charlie will be hoping that his Laurelvale side can turn it on at home to CSNI. Laurelvale’s top four of McCrum, Bruce Topping, Noel Nelson and Wayne Pearson are more that capable. In the first round Topping scored an unbeaten 70 and Wayne Pearson took 6 wickets.
Instonians will hope that home advantage gives them the edge against Bangor, Shaw’s Bridge so often referred to as a batsman graveyard yielded almost 600 runs in the Irish Senior Cup last weekend with Rory McCann smashing 139, let’s hope for more of the same.
For those looking an upset perhaps it will be at Pollock Park where the home side face Derriaghy. Marvin van Niekirk won the Down Democrat Man of the Match award in the first round and took 6 wickets and scored 70 last weekend for good measure. Derriaghy will be without Aphale who along with Andrew Kenny has contributed the bulk of their runs this season to date.
In the other matches I do not expect Woodvale to trouble Waringstown even with home advantage and the visitors minus their Irish contingent. Muckamore might have been capable of upsetting Carrickfergus but not on the evidence of Saturday’s defeat by Armagh.
Full Second Round Draw; Ties to be played Saturday 17 May
- Lisburn v CIYMS
- North Down v Downpatrick
- Instonians v Bangor
- Lurgan v Derriaghy
- Woodvale v Waringstown
- Laurelvale v CSNI
- Carrickfergus v Muckamore
- Dundrum v Cliftonville
Courtesy Down Democrat
