Glendermott claim first Eric Cooke Memorial Cup

It was something of an emotional day at Ardmore on Sunday as the first ever Eric Cooke Memorial Cup final between Glendermott and St Johnston was played in a contest hampered by rain.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Aug 2014, 14:50 BST
Glendermott captain Gordon Montgomery, pictured with family members of the late Eric Cooke, from left, Dan, Zach, Max and Wendy Penney, and Tracey Cooke, who presented the Eric Cooke Memorial Cup at the North West T20 finals at the Bleechgreen on Sunday. INLS3314-135KMGlendermott captain Gordon Montgomery, pictured with family members of the late Eric Cooke, from left, Dan, Zach, Max and Wendy Penney, and Tracey Cooke, who presented the Eric Cooke Memorial Cup at the North West T20 finals at the Bleechgreen on Sunday. INLS3314-135KM
Glendermott captain Gordon Montgomery, pictured with family members of the late Eric Cooke, from left, Dan, Zach, Max and Wendy Penney, and Tracey Cooke, who presented the Eric Cooke Memorial Cup at the North West T20 finals at the Bleechgreen on Sunday. INLS3314-135KM

The Rectory side batted first and their innings was dominated by opening batsman Simon Killen who defied conditions to help his side to a decent score.

Killen hit 10 fours and a six on his way to 68 and testimony to the quality of his knock, the next highest score after him was just 12.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Kushpal Singh was the pick of the Donegal men’s bowling as he claimed three for 17 helping restrict Glendermott to 123 for six from their 20 overs.

The Saints flew out of the traps in reply as Michael Rankin and Rammohan Goud (14) put on 37 for the first wicket. Rankin dominated a second innings partnership with Andrew Fleming that took their side to a seemingly winning position at 62-1 before the introduction of Curtis Ross into the attack changed the game. Ross ripped out St Johnston’s middle order to finish with figures of five for 29 and although Kushpal Singh hit a battling 25 not out, Stuart Cochrane held his nerve to keep the last over down to seven runs and leaving the Saints just six short.

Competition sponsor Dan Penny had little hesitation in nominating Ross as his man-of-the-match and in an emotional presentation, winning skipper Gordon Montgomery told the Cooke family that it was a real honour to be the first to lift Eric’s cup. It has been a real rags-to-riches 12 months for Killyclooney and Mark Gordon’s men took their recovery to a new level when they qualified for the final of this year’s National Cup on Sunday.

’Clooney don’t play at their own ground on Sundays of course but Fox Lodge has been no bad alternative for them as they showed again at the weekend when seeing off Belfast side Woodvale. A solid batting display topped by skipper Gordon’s 65 (8 fours and 4 sixes) with support from Timmy Dougherty (40), Keith Stevenson (21) and Alan Colhoun (20) set the tone for the home side’s very competitive 207 all out. The innings was also notable for a fine effort with the ball from Mark Irwin who claimed 7 for 55 for the away side.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Namesake Michael Irwin was the driving force behind Woodvale’s reply as the opener hit 6 fours and 3 sixes in his 56. He received good support from Thomas Rutherford (37) but elsewhere the bowlers were on top - Christopher Neely in particular as he claimed 4 for 22. More rain put an end to proceedings with the visitors having 4 overs still to bat but they were miles behind on Duckworth Lewis.

The North West side is now just one game away from an All-Ireland title with the impressive Carrickfergus posing the final test next weekend at Downpatrick.