Elation was mixed with relief on Sunday afternoon for Limerick’s 1st XI who picked up their first win, having to wait until close to August, of their Premier League campaign as they came up trumps against County Kerry in Tralee on Sunday. Overcast conditions surrounded the Oyster Oval for most of the day’s play, Limerick skipper Prasad Hegde won the toss and put the opposition into field first.

Surprisingly, Limerick started the better with openers Dahima and Karur looking in fine touch but more importantly, controlling the innings responsibly and negotiating the new ball well. Kerry did not find the breakthrough until the 22nd over, with Limerick 68 runs to the good. Sarfraz Ramay, promoted to number 3, calmly continued to rotate strike and added another 30 runs before his dismissal on 99-2. Kerry bounced back with the dismissals of Borghare and Dahima, with Dahima’s knock in particular proving crucial.

Contributions were added with Bogavelly’s cameo of 28 from 20 (2x4s, 2x6s) coming just before that of Nishant Kumar, who added 34 from 27 (4x4s, 0x6s) as boundaries continued to come. Limerick batted up until the 46th over as their innings concluded on 201. 

Limerick started well in the second innings with the captain leading by example and getting a deserved wicket on the 8th over, forcing Morshed into an aerial shot which was safely pouched by Sourabh Teke. 33-1 became 42-3 with Karur dismissing both Niyaz  and Warnke in quick succession. The home side now had a steep run rate to chase down as well as losing three early wickets, but Limerick exerted even more pressure which lead to confusion in the middle and the end of Braden Warnke as Mohit Malik was able to run him out on 98-4. Hegde turned to his spinners Bortghare and Ramay just before drinks who flipped the game on its head; both players picked up three wickets apiece to end any chances of a successful run chase, with Ramay in particular leading the attack and finishing with figures of 34-3. Limerick secured victory with no late scares from the tail, with Kerry all out in the 35th over and 40 runs or so shy of their target. 

RESULT| MCU Premier League.

We defeated County Kerry by 44 runs yesterday. 

Limerick 1: 201 all out off 46.4 overs.

Karthik Karur 46

Bharatkumar Dahima 41

County Kerry 1: 157 all out off 35.3 overs.

Sarfraz Ramay 3-35

Parth Borghare 3-53

                                           * * *

There were a plethora of underage games over the weekend, with Limerick’s U17 side finally able to get their campaign up and running where they faced an in-form Cork Harlequins side at the Manor Fields in Adare on Monday. Harlequins were off the back of back-to-back victories against Cork County and knew a win would be close to sealing their place in the All-Ireland finals on August 22nd. 

Limerick skipper Ayan Ulla won the toss and elected to bat with Abubakar Aziz and Skandan Lakshmanan opening for the Shannonsiders. They set a platform of 30 runs or so before a vital stand of 40 runs between Ullah and Malik for the third wicket got Limerick to 70-3 at the end of the 12th over, a mix-up between the two resulted in Malik scampering back from a quick a single to be run out, but contributions from Yousaf Ramay and Riyan Shah allowed Ullah to stay at the crease and commandeer the strike for the remainder of the innings, as he finished 49 not out from 37 deliveries, on his side’s way to finishing 129-7 from their 20 overs.

Needing 6.5 runs per over, Limerick needed early wickets and it was Arham Ullah who struck fire with the new ball. Younger brother to Ayan, Arham kept the ball on a full length consistently throughout his spell and dismissed the first three batsman from Quins, including dangerman Stevenson. The highlight of the day also went to Ullah, when Yewale rocketed a straight drive back to Ullah whose caught and bowled effort was superb, grasping the ball just above head height to see the end of his third victim. Limerick struggled to dismiss McLaughlin but wickets continued to fall, with McCutcheon and Malik in particular sharp in the field to complete run outs at opposite ends, with Malik making a direct hit at a tigh angle to see the end of Khan in the 15th over. Economical bowling from Yousaf Ramay, Abubakar Aziz and Ghufran Chaudhry in the latter stages brought the game out of reach for the visitors who fell short by 19 runs to give Limerick the perfect start. 

RESULT| MCU U17 League.

We defeated Cork Harlequins by 19 runs today. 

Limerick U17: 129-7 off 20 overs.

Ayan Ullah 49*

Shayan Malik 37

Cork Harlequins U17: 110-6 off 20 overs.

Arham Ullah 3-14

Yousaf Ramay 1-10

Limerick’s U15 side were faced with three games in 24 hours as they faced the challenge of County Galway and Cork County in their league campaign. There were comfortable wins for the Shannonsiders in both fixtures against Galway, opting to bat first in the Friday night fixture and winning by a margin of 95 runs, as opener Robert McCutcheon and middle order batsman Faizan Chaudhry stole the headlines with Riyan Shah (22) and Behroz Khan (24*) also adding to the total. Limerick bowled first in the second encounter and ran riot with the new ball, restricting Galway to just 56 with the bat and chasing the 57 down comfortably in the 7th over.

RESULT| MCU U15 League.

We defeated County Galway by 95 runs on Friday.

Limerick U15: 134-4 off 20 overs.

Faizan Chaudhry 28

Robert McCutcheon 25

County Galway U15: 39 all out off 11.3 overs.

Arham Ullah 3-1

Leon George 1-7

RESULT| MCU U15 League.

We defeated County Galway by 8 wickets yesterday.

County Galway U15: 56-7 off 20 overs.

Yousaf Ramay 3-10

Arham Ullah 2-3

Limerick U15: 57-2 off 7.1 overs.

Abubaker Aziz 15*

Skandan Lakshmanan 13*

Cork County provided a sterner test for Limerick on Saturday, with the game coming down to the final over of the second innings in what turned out to be a heated, nail-biting affair in Lydican. 

Electing to bat, Limerick recovered from 47-4 with a brilliant partnership between Shayan Malik and Yousaf Ramay of 44 runs in just 34 balls adding impetus and taking the sting out of the opposition bowling attack. Despite Malik’s dismissal at 91-5, Ramay carried his bat with a mature 37* from 28 balls (3x4s,0x6s) and was supported well by Chinmay Shinde, batting at 8, who had a run a ball 20 to accelerate his side’s total to 129, and setting a target of 130. 

The second innings panned out differently, with wickets coming sporadically as County in the form of Gude and Kamel batted with gusto to overcome the new ball and rally their side to a comfortable 108-3 after 16 overs. The game was all but in the bag for County, needing just 22 runs from 4 overs with 7 wickets remaining. The game boiled down to the final over, with Riyan Shah given the final six deliveries by his captain, to conjure up a miracle. Despite a wide from the first delivery, Shah held his nerve and bowled incredibly to firstly dismiss Muammad, followed by a dot ball and two further dismissals, which left the equation at 3 runs needed from two. The penultimate ball slipped down the leg side as the batsman charged to leave his crease unattended to, sharp glovework from Lakshmanan behind the stumps resulted in a fair stumping with the wide adding one run- County needing two off the final ball for victory, In dramatic fashion, Indrodiya pierced the field and came back for the second to scrape victory by the finest of margins. A huge credit has to go to Shah for bringing his side back into the game from the depths of defeat who was desperately unlucky to not salvage even a draw from the last ball. 

The defeat is Limerick’s first at U15 level where they will wait to see the results of the other All-Ireland qualifiers before they learn their destiny. 

RESULT| MCU U15 League.

We lost to Cork County Galway by 3 wickets yesterday.

Limerick U15: 129-7 off 20 overs.

Yousaf Ramay 37*

Shayan Malik 25

Cork County U15: 130-7 off 20 overs.

Riyan Shah 3-4

Abubaker Aziz 1-25

                                           * * *

This weekend’s highlight will be the Women’s Celtic Cup final, as the club’s only shot of silverware will see them take on the winners of the semi-final between County Galway and Cork County on Saturday afternoon. Limerick’s women’s side will be looking to retain the trophy from last year after winning the final in Galway last time round. Start time for the final is expected to be at around 1.30 at the Croker’s Oval in Ballyneety. 

Elsewhere, Limerick’s 3rd XI will travel to The Farm, UCC to take on Cork County in Division Two, as well as the 4ths who will play both Nenagh and Cork Harlequins over the weekend in away ties. 

Finally, it will be another action-packed weekend for the youth cohort who will start off on Friday night as the U17s travel to Farmer’s Cross to take on Cork Harlequins in Monday’s return fixture with action getting underway at 5.30pm. Limerick’s U15s will also take on Cork Harlequins away from home on Sunday afternoon and the U13s top off the youth games with the challenge of Lismore in Adare on Saturday morning followed up with a double-header against Cork County at the Manor Fields on Monday.