Instonians impress in Irish Senior Cup victory as six NCU clubs progress into second round
Six local clubs are progressing into the Irish Senior Cup second round after Instonians, CSNI and North Down all won their respective matches on Saturday afternoon to join CIYMS, Waringstown and Muckamore, who each received byes.
​Reigning Premier League champions Instonians once again displayed their dominance and laid down a marker of intentions for this campaign with Robert McKinley (107) striking a century as they convincingly defeated Eglinton by 142 runs.
McKinley shared an opening partnership of 114 with Oliver Metcalfe (64) before putting on a further 165 with captain Nikolai Smith (89) as Inst posted a mammoth 307/5 in their 50 overs.
Their trio of quality spinners then combined to collect all 10 Eglinton wickets with Cian Robertson (4/21) and Ben Rose (4/52) picking up four apiece while former Ireland international Andrew White (2/31) also chipped in to limit the visitors to 165.
Instonians have never won the Irish Cup and reached their sole final to date in 2011 where they lost out to Waringstown, but with all bases covered and Neil Rock still to be welcomed back into the fold, the Shaw’s Bridge outfit should certainly be considered amongst the prime contenders in 2024.
Elsewhere, half-centuries from Stuart Thompson (87*) and Jordan Neill (73) helped inspire CSNI to a 76-run win over Newbuildings at Stormont.
Batting first, the hosts posted 252/4 with captain Thompson striking 12 boundaries during his 71-ball stay at the crease before Adam Leckey (3/28) led the way with the ball while Matthew Foster (2/33) collected the key wicket of Gareth McKeegan (65).
Meanwhile, North Down looked to be heading for defeat with Ardmore sitting on 151/5 while chasing a winning target of 186 with 15 overs to go, but a batting collapsed sparked by Liam Hayman (3/27) secured progress for the Comber outfit.
Aniruddha Chore (79) helped push Peter Davison’s side up to 185 – a score which didn’t look like enough for large periods of the chase – but the hosts lost their last five wickets for only 20 runs to see North Down through.
Lisburn, who reached the final in 2022, were knocked out by Malahide in Dublin with The Village outfit winning through by a margin of two wickets in a final-over thriller.
Faiz Fazal (81) and captain Neil Whitworth (72) helped Lisburn reach 229, but Malahide were able to creep over the line with Andrew Sheridan (33*) holding his nerve.
Ruhan Pretorius’ superb start to the 2024 campaign continued as he struck 103 against Brigade, but that couldn’t help Woodvale get near the desired winning total of 315 as they fell short by 119 runs.
There were also defeats for Carrickfergus and Cliftonville Academy, who lost out to The Hills and Railway Union respectively.
In the National Cup, Laurelvale progressed past Ballyhaunis as Mark Thornbury (107*) led the way to 327/2 alongside Adnan Malik (96) and captain David Sinton (94*) while Samuel O'Mahony struck 152 in 124 balls as Templepatrick defeated North Kildare.