After making the trip to the Mardyke on Sunday afternoon for their penultimate league game, Limerick’s 1st XI’s game vs Cork County was rained off after umpires Tracey Pasquill and Senthil Mohan confirmed that conditions were unplayable due to heavy overnight rain, which caused an excessive level of moisture around the ground. The ‘no result’ from the fixture means the Shannonsiders maintain their winning percentage (the metric used to determine league position) with one final game left. The equation is simple: win, tie or a loss with three bonus points or more, and Limerick will confirm their attainment of the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2020. County Kerry are the only other team with a chance of surpassing Limerick. They would need two wins with near-maximum points and a heavy Cork Harlequins victory to give themselves a chance. So, attention turns to Farmer’s Cross this Saturday, where Limerick’s destiny will be realised with an 11am start scheduled.

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Waqas Mehmood lost the toss and was put into bat by Kerry skipper Majid Yousaf, a toss Mehmood may have fortuitously lost, as opening bowler Parth Borghare returned two wickets in his opening spell, including one in the very first over. Mehmood put himself on from the other end and was unlucky not to take a wicket early on, but managed to dismiss Jayaprakash caught and bowled later on. Limerick looked to be well on top at drinks, with Rahil departing shortly after to see the score at 100-6. Two late partnerships from the hosts put them in a very favourable position at the break, however, with stands of 62 and 64 runs for the seventh and eighth wickets respectively propelling them above 200. Hussein’s reintroduction into the attack was pivotal to restricting the total, as he swept up the tail in swift fashion, adding two wickets to his previous three to land his maiden five-wicket haul for the club, as Kerry set a target of 227.

Limerick’s top order failed to get the upper hand in the early stages of the second innings, losing five wickets for just 39 runs, leaving a big mountain to climb for the remaining batsmen. With time on their side, however, the middle-order pairing of Waqas Mehmood and Pavan Prajapati went about their work nicely, forming a significant 95-run partnership at a nice pace. Mehmood led by example, taking the lion’s share of responsibility for the stand with a second half-century in as many weeks, making 53 from 57 balls (4x4s, 3x6s). Prajapati contributed the same number of 4s, but both batsmen fell in the space of five balls, with Prajapati finishing on 33 from 40 balls. No contribution of note from the tail resulted in a sobering day for the 2nds, finishing short of their target by 87 runs.

RESULT| MCU Division One

We lost to County Kerry by 87 runs today.

County Kerry 2: 226 all out off 40.2 overs.
 Asif Hussein 5-30
 Parth Borghare 3-28

Limerick 2: 139 all out off 28.3 overs.
 Waqas Mehmood 53
 Pavan Prajapati 33

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Limerick’s 3rd XI had a much closer contest at the Manor Fields yesterday afternoon, as their attempt to chase a mammoth 253 from 40 overs came up 42 runs short, with a number of exhilarating knocks.

The spread of Limerick’s bowling attack caused trouble for the opposition, who won the toss and elected to bat first. All of Prabu’s seamers, namely Mehmood, Aziz, Ramay, Borghare and the skipper himself, were amongst the wickets before drinks. At 121-6, the first innings was in the balance, with the hosts picking up two quick wickets before a late flurry, including a 107-run partnership for the seventh wicket, brought Blasters to a score of 252-8, as the task became daunting for Limerick’s batsmen.

Prajapati and Aziz did well to recover after the early loss of Srivastva, putting together 67 runs for the second wicket. Prajapati was unlucky to fall just five runs short of a 50, as he moved down the pitch only to end up stumped and well short of his ground. Aziz and Pawar both fell in quick succession, as Mehmood and Ramay tried to recover from 97-5. Both added scores in the 20s (27 & 21 respectively) as the captain entered the fray and looked to accelerate. That he did, with a quick-fire 52 from just 32 balls. Prabu’s entertaining innings included 6x4s as he let the shackles off to make it two half-centuries in three games, marking another impressive knock from the skipper. It was too little, too late in the grand scheme of things, however, as the home side scurried to 210-9 at the end of their 40 overs.

RESULT| MCU Division Two

We lost to Limerick Blasters by 42 runs today.

Limerick Blasters 2: 252-8 off 40 overs.
 Waqas Mehmood 2-51
 Parth Borghare 1-42

Limerick 3: 210-9 off 40 overs.
 Sathya Prabu 53*
 Pavan Prajapati 45

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Limerick’s 4th XI rounded up a third loss for the Shannonsiders, who succumbed to three failed run chases over the weekend. Ramji Lakshmanan lost the toss and was put into bat by Nenagh at the Manor Fields, Adare, on Saturday afternoon.

The powerplay belonged to the Shannonsiders, with Gopal on fire with the new ball, picking up three dismissals in his first two overs to exert real pressure on the middle order. At 8-3, Nenagh were in all sorts but recovered to maintain a partnership until they passed 50 runs. Shaheer Akhtar was brought into the attack by Lakshmanan and bowled well, deserving of his two wickets as the score read 69-5 after 15 overs. Nenagh knitted together another longstanding partnership with Limerick struggling to dismiss the dangerous Chavan, who went on to make 95 from 111 balls, as partners fell around him. It was a credit to the Limerick bowlers, who, despite having the case of Chavan to deal with, continued to chip away and add to a growing wicket column, as Gopal picked up another two dismissals to claim his maiden five-wicket haul and etch his name onto the club’s honours board. A target of 193 was set for Lakshmanan and co. to chase.

Limerick’s young guns nibbled away at their total without making any real headway early on. A score of 54-5 saw wickets tumble without a strong recovery from the middle order, but a couple of very significant knocks stood out from today’s play for Limerick. Firstly, in his debut hard-ball game at just 12 years of age, Anvit Bharadwaj nestled together 26 runs, in the meantime putting together a 52-run stand with his skipper in an impressive occupancy of the crease, marking himself as one to watch for the future. The skipper himself top-scored with an unbeaten 40 from 50 balls, as he consolidated 49 runs with Tom Vercoe (23* from 25 balls) for the last partnership of the season, as a pride-bearing 155 from 40 overs left the hosts 37 runs short in the end.

RESULT| MCU Division Five.

We lost to Nenagh by 37 runs today.

Nenagh 4: 192 all out off 39.2 overs.
Darshan Gopal 5-35
Ean Siju 2-10

Limerick 4: 155-6 off 40 overs.
Ramji Lakshmanan 40*

Anvit Bharadwaj 26

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Next weekend sees the big encounter against Cork Harlequins on Saturday, coupled with Limerick’s 2nd XI game against Limerick Blasters in Adare. The Premier League title is at stake in the Quins game at Farmer’s Cross, as Mehmood and co. will be looking for a victory to lift them off the foot of the Division One table. In the final club game of the year, Limerick’s 3rd XI will battle with County Clare at the Manor Fields on Sunday afternoon to draw the curtain on the 2026 season for Limerick Cricket Club.