It was a tale of two openers as Rush eased into the quarter finals of the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup. Batting first, Clontarf quickly lost Eoghan Delaney and Ropu Islam, the latter eventually held between Eoin Conway's thighs at deep backward square.

Alex Cusack joined Dom Rigby to repair the damage and they'd progressed to 103 for 2 when rain interrupted proceedings for 35 minutes. Rush skipper Niall Mullins introduced himself into the attack on the resumption with immediate results removing Cusack (45) and Andrew Poynter in consecutive deliveries. Greg Molins came, biffed and went and when Rigby finally fell for 74 it looked as if Clontarf would fall well of a defendable target. But Ronan O'Reilly, making his season's debut, played sensibly to hold the late order together with a resolute 46 taking Clontarf to 247 for 9 off their 50 overs. Niall Mullins (3 for 31) and Shahid Iqbal (3 for 53) were the most successful bowlers and Keegan Clarke bowled a good spell of 1 for 29 at at time when Clontarf were trying to accelerate.

Fintan McAllister and Dan Van Zyl got Rush off to a steady reply. But Van Zyl and Tipu Gull fell in quick succession and Rush needed someone to stay with McAllister. Naseer Shaukat (20) filled that role for a while but it was only when Shaheed Iqbal joined the fray that Rush started to get ahead of the asking rate. The two added 97 in 13 overs being particularly severe on Clontarf's three spinners - Molins, Poynter and Keith Spellman. The belated introduction of Clontarf's eighth bowler - Conor D'Arcy - finally did the trick removing McAllister for 89, quickly followed by Clarke. With Joe Morrissey accounting for Iqbal for 57, Rush were suddenly 221 for 6 and in danger of falling at the final hurdle. But Lionel Jansen (22*) with a flurry of boundaries saw them home by 4 wickets with more than 7 overs to spare. D'Arcy (2 for 19) and Morrissey (2 for 47) were the best of the Clontarf bowlers.

 There were five games in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup involving the North West on Saturday and the local sides enjoyed mixed fortunes as only Donemana were able to make home advantage count, while Limavady won away at NCU kingpins North Down. The League leaders were expected to overcome Leinster Section “B” representatives CYM, but were given a scare or two along the way before proving too strong in the end. Batting first, CYM recovered from the loss of opener Ullah without scoring to reach 55-1, before Junior McBrine got among the top order to put Donemana back in the box seat. Despite 39 from Henson, the Dublin side slumped to 88-5, and although CYM rallied a little, Rafferty’s 39 only helped them to a below par 143. Junior McBrine finished with 3-18 and Jordan McGonagle picked up 3-16 as the visitors showed a distinct naivety in playing slow and medium pace. Mind you, Andy Britton also picked up 3 wickets as CYM didn’t look overly happy against pace either.

Under new skipper Dwayne McGarrigle, Donemana have looked a more solid unit and there seemed little chance they would slip up in their attempt to keep their impressive run going. Whilst confidence may well have been high as the openers strode to the middle, it must have been a decidedly less comfortable dressing room 15 minutes later with the hosts 6-3, and Dale Olphert, Graeme Boyd and more worryingly Azhar Shaffique back in the hutch. Cometh the hour and all that and yet again it was Junior McBrine to the Tyrone team’s rescue his unbeaten 62 settling the hosts’ nerves and laying the seeds of victory. Ritchie McBrine weighed in with 29 as CYM struggled valiantly to break the partnership but in the end it was Donemana who came home with 5 wickets to spare. McGarrigle would no doubt take anyone at home in the quarter finals.

Up the road at Strabane the home team would also have fancied their chances as they hosted NCU side Waringstown. The visitors wouldn’t have been relishing their second trip to the North West in the space of a week particularly after being thumped at Limavady on Sunday but they were to bounce back in style on this occasion. Phil Eaglestone and Mark Gillespie both recovered from injury to take their places in Strabane’s starting line up and on winning the toss, skipper Peter Gillespie invited the visitors to have a bat on a track with a little something left on it. Eaglestone removed opener Nelson early on for just 1 run, but the visitors professional Ijaz Ahmed steadied the ship with a fighting half century. He was well supported by Jonathan Bushe who was unbeaten on 32 as Waringstown posted 185-6 in their 50 overs. Ciaran Patton bowled a superb spell of 7 overs for 8 runs on his first attempt but he went for a few when he came back to finish his overs.

Unfortunately for Strabane, their batsmen coped less well with the pitch and despite the fact that skipper Peter Gillespie showed that it held no fears with an excellent 60, the rest of his team mates never turned up. Only Paul McNamee in the bottom half showed any sign of staying with his skipper and Gillespie was eventually out trying to push after the runs. Kyle McCallan claimed 3 wickets whilst there were 2 apiece for Ijaz and Cheater. A close game, with only 28 runs between them at the end but regular problems coming back to haunt the Tyrone Club on this occasion.

Up at Bready were the home team got a master class in batting, Jeremy Bray style. The big Australian put on 141 for the first wicket with Pat Byrne who made 57, and in this sort of form, Bray is a very difficult man to bowl to. The left hander carried his bat for an unbeaten 110 and was joined by former Ireland International Barry Archer who added 29 before being run out.

That nudged The Hills over the 240 mark which given the circumstances was no bad effort, indeed in the final reckoning Bready were never ever in the hunt, David Rankin opening the innings batted well for his 41 and David Scanlon batting down the order added 36 in what was ultimately a tough ask for the Magheramason team. They finished with 145 all out and skipper Trevor Britton will want to get his team in and get them lifted before next week’s league fixture as the rest of the card made for absolutely brutal reading. Skipper Sorrenson picked up two wickets during the Bready innings but was overshadowed by Costello who returned excellent figures of 3-8.Another poor Irish Senior Cup campaign from Bready but every chance The Hills could go on to have a say in where the 2008 trophy will come to rest.

Another North Dublin side showed just why they are rated the best team in Ireland, as North County demolished the hopes of NW champions Brigade. The holders were ruthless in every facet of the game, and totally outplayed their NW counterparts. They racked up 294 for 5, with Conor Armstrong hitting 12 fours and a six in his 94 as he punished anything remotely loose. If Armstrong provided the power, then it was Andre Botha who provided the touch and class. He stroked his way to 71 from just 47 balls, providing an exhibition of timing and placement. Brian Shields (45) provided the anchor role, while Adrian Murphy (23), and Dara Armstrong (18*) provided quick runs at the end.

The game was effectively over as a contest after 18 overs, as the Beechgrove side were reduced to 34 for 4, following magnificent opening spells from Andre Botha and Denver De Cruz. Both bowled with pace and aggression, extracting bounce and movement from the pitch. Botha removed Wylie and Wasti, and when Eddie Richardson got in on the act dismissing Hussain and Elder, all Brigade could play for was respectability. They achieved that with half centuries from Gordon Cooke (57) and Stephen Smyth (51), ending up on 199 for 9 – 95 runs short. Botha was the outstanding bowler on show, taking 3 for 6 from 7 overs, similar to his World Cup performance against Pakistan – no coincidence that for much of his spell he was bowling to Wasti and Hussain?

Limavady, the last NW team to lift the trophy in 2004, came out on top away at North Down. They were always in control after posting 271 for 8 in their 50 overs. Professional Aga Sabir top scored with 72, and there were useful supporting acts in Ian McGregor (67), David Cooke (32*), and Richard McDaid (22). Andrew Haire (4-23) and Martin Moreland (2-48) were the most successful of the Comber side attack. In reply, Richard McDaid reduced them to 16 for 3, with Ryan Haire, Andrew Sutherland and Taimur Khan all back in the pavilion. Robin Haire (60) and Joe Montgomery (51) added 94 for the fourth wicket, but with the rate required creeping up, wickets began to fall. Andrew Haire and Martin Moreland both hit 23, but they fell 65 runs short. Richard McDaid (4-30) and Aga Sabir (3-27) doing the damage for the Roesiders.

Only 6.3 overs were possible at Shaw's Bridge between Instonians and Leinster, with the visitors struggling at 20-3, when play was halted due to the pitch. The umpires decreed that it was dangerous and unsuitabke for cricket - the likely outcome will be a replay at Rathmines on June 27.

The draw will be made on Friday at the Ireland Under 19 v MCC game at Carrickfergus.