This is the stage of the competition where the Premier leagues sides enter the fray. Two local sides are involved and both will be playing at home. Downpatrick will entertain Bangor but by far the most intriguing is the clash of Saintfield and Laurelvale.
Saintfield are the only Section Three side left in the competition and have already made their own little piece of history in the first round by defeating Section Two Ballymena. In what was a great all round team performance; man of the match that day was Ray McCavery for his 81 not out.
But Ray was not the only outstanding contribution that day, Richard Owens made an entertaining 50, Byron Woodruff and John Wheeler each took three wickets and there were two apiece for Mark Yates and skipper Mark McBriar.
McBriar has had time to collect his thoughts and look back at that win as well as forward to this Saturday at The Demesne:
“There was no expectation on us to beat Ballymena and to be honest I would have been happy with a good team performance had we lost narrowly, I just wanted to see us compete and we did that effectively.
We have a good wicket and when we had Ballymena at 77 for 5 it was a little disappointing that they got to 200, but that is the difference between Section Two and Section Three they bat right down the order. Even chasing 200 I knew if we batted the way we can it was achievable and in the end thanks to the efforts of Ray and Richard we made it reasonably comfortably.
I will have no problem lifting the boys for Saturday it has been all the talk since we beat Ballymena, in fact there is almost an air of expectancy that we can win this one. The difference here is that whilst we knew little about Ballymena we have played Laurelvale a few times in the league in recent seasons and given them a run for their money.
Obviously any team that can boast Charlie and Paul McCrum, Bruce Topping and Wayne Pearson as a top four are going to be more than a match for most sides but if we can get amongst then early anything is possible.
For me as captain a cup run is a nice bonus, but the key is to perform week in and week out in the league to ensure that we are in the top two at the end of the season and be playing the likes of the Laurelvale’s and Ballymena’s every week. My aim is to see the players as motivated against the likes of Templepatrick as they undoubtedly are to try and reach the quarterfinal next weekend. What we are looking to achieve here is a consistency of performance.”
McBriar hopes to be picking from a full strength squad and that may mean 12 or 13 players looking for 11 spots, a nice dilemma to have. Equally I am sure he will not readily surrender an impressive record that sees him unbeaten at The Demesne since he took on the captaincy.
Downpatrick skipper Dale Mullan will be looking for his side to display a level of consistency as well. A reasonable start to the campaign has seen the local side win two out of three in the league and defeat Bready in the Irish Senior Cup.
However the major blot in the copybook to date was a horrendous batting display against this weekend’s opponents Bangor when they were all out for 68 to lose by 10 wickets inside 10 overs. Hopefully home advantage will make a difference.
Cup holder Waringstown will be looking to put the disappointment of Irish Cup defeat at Rush behind them as they entertain Section Two Dunmurry but will once again be without Kyle McCallan on international duty.
Instonians will also be without international Andrew White at Cliftonville. White’s one man show with 124 not out following on from 4 for 26 with the ball dug the Old Boys out of a big hole in Dublin against YMCA on Saturday when the top three all failed to score. Inst should though see their unbeaten start to the season continue.
Last season’s beaten finalist CIYMS take the short trip to Stormont to play CSNI, if their big guns, Derek Heasley and Johnny Hewitt perform there is the chance of an upset here again.
Two teams with fine cup pedigree North Down and Woodvale meet at The Lawn in a rerun of the 2000 final but the home side should have too much firepower in their batting line up for their Section Two opponents.
For Derriaghy home advantage may just be enough to edge it over Carrickfergus and in the days other tie Lisburn take on Lurgan who will be hoping that their batting finally clicks.
Second Round Draw:
- Derriaghy v Carrickfergus
- Cliftonville v Instonians
- Saintfield v Laurelvale
- CSNI v CIYMS
- North Down v Woodvale
- Downpatrick v Bangor
- Lisburn v Lurgan
- Waringstown v Dunmurry
Ties to be played May 26
Courtesy of the Down Democrat
