Sandymount’s Railway Union Cricket Club became the first Club from south of the Liffey to lift the Irish Senior Cup when they overcame Rush CC in a nail-biting and tense final at Castle Avenue, Clontarf on September 1st.

For Railway, it was third time lucky as they had reached the final in both 2003 and 2005, only to be beaten by North County on both occasions. Rush had also been beaten finalists, losing out to Malahide in 2002 so there was going to be a new name on the cup, whatever the outcome.

The Irish Senior Cup was inaugurated in 1982 and in the early years, apart from one lone southern success by Phoenix CC in 1986, the Cup had been the preserve of northern teams drawn from the Northern Cricket Union and North West Cricket Union.

When two other Sandymount-based clubs, YMCA and Pembroke dominated Leinster Cricket, they failed narrowly to make the vital breakthrough at Irish Senior level. The Northern domination began to fade in recent years as the standard of cricket in Leinster improved and this is also now reflected in the composition of the national squad.

The Celtic Tiger played a part in this development as many talented overseas players, coming to Dublin seeking work, joined Leinster Clubs and raised standards. Allied to this was the excellent under-age coaching structure and development programme being implemented by the Leinster Cricket Union.

It was no surprise in 2001, when North County won the cup by defeating Cliftonville in the final. Malahide won the following year, in the first all-Leinster final against Rush. North County, as stated, beat Railway Union in both 2003 and 2005.

It was rather ironic that the person captaining Rush CC in the final was none other than Brían O’Rourke, originally from Sandymount and a stalwart of Pembroke CC for many years. Now residing in Rush, Brían is also the full-time Leinster Cricket Development Officer and has had a big impact of the development of many of the younger Railway Union players, coaching and managing them at underage level and later on developmental tours to the U.K. Brían also supports the development of cricket in Star of the Sea BNS by his weekly visits over the last number of years and it from the school that Railway Union draw on most of their underage players.

Railway Union fielded seven players that had begun their cricket at underage level in Railway Union and six of those players were in the successful Molins Cup (U-11) team of 1992. It was fitting that their coach from 1992, Brian Donnelly was on hand to witness the triumph. Niall O’Brien, who had been playing with Kent and Ireland throughout the season was eligible to play in this competition and came home to lend his support to his local Club.

Following the win, the cup was proudly displayed in the clubhouse at Park Avenue and celebrations went on into the early hours of the morning. Many thanks are due to sponsors, Paul Barry of Architectural Hardware and Rangan Aruchevlan of the Russell Court Hotel for their generous support on the night to make it such a memorable one and for their continued support for the Club throughout the season.

The Irish Senior Cup win rounded off what had been a magnificent season for the Club. Earlier in the season the Club won both Leinster DGM 45-overs League and Leinster Alan Murray Cup 20/20 Cup.

In addition the Club won Section B of the Leinster Senior League and gained promotion to the A Section for 2007. With three players selecting in the Irish Squad for the World Cup in Jamaica in March and another player on the list of reserves, the future is indeed bright for the cricketers of Park Avenue.

Top: Ginger O’Brien with his sons Kevin and Niall.
Photograph courtesy of Barry Chambers, Cricket Europe.