Donemana beat Newbuildings to regain NW Senior Cup

The Sports Hub Senior Cup trophy is back at the Holm this weekend after Donemana recorded an emphatic 203-run win over Newbuildings at Beechgrove in an entertaining weekend decider.

There are usually several key phases in these two-day finals and there is very little doubt that the first 90 minutes of Saturday's second day's play went a long way towards deciding the outcome to this one.

Gary McClintock's century on Friday helped Donemana to a very competitive total of 250-9 and although the cup holders battled back well to make 224 in their reply- courtesy of half centuries from Peat Salmon and Jason Dunn- the 26 run lead did turn out to be more meaningful in the grander scheme of things.

Both skippers had accepted at Tuesday night's pre-cup final meeting that they would play to 'light' on Friday to give the game a chance to finish on time on Saturday.

That was all well and good at the time, however Donemana then had to bat 15 overs in their second innings before stumps were pulled for the night.

And in that extra hour, the Holm side lost Jamie Huey, Raymond Curry and, crucially, skipper McClintock as they closed on 48-3, although the 26 lead made that look a bit more palatable.

Play resumed on Saturday morning with Andy McBrine and Anuj Jotin in the middle and you got the impression overnight that these two would be vital to their team's chances of posting a challenging target.

And for those 90 minutes, both players were rigorously tested, however neither blinked, and by the time Ross Dougherty had Jotin caught by Gareth McKeegan for 51- the partnership had been worth 112.

Donemana centurions Andy McBrine and Gary McClintock

Irish International McBrine knew that the had to anchor the rest of the innings, and the man who missed last year's final due to his selection for Ireland's Test match in Belfast, made up for lost time.

'Scra' was finally out to Salmon in the 48th over, but not before he had completed a superb century (9 fours, 2 sixes) and Donemana were by now totally in charge.

William McClintock added an aggressive late 33 and Levi Dougherty 20 for a total of 267-8, which given the 26-run lead meant Newbuildings would need a mammoth 294 to win.

Salmon (3-44) was the pick of the Newbuildings bowlers and after a few early wickets in their reply, the West Indian needed to do something very special if his side was to retain their trophy.

Unfortunately for them, Peat hadn't even got off the mark in the second innings when he offered a straightforward caught and bowled chance to his opposite number Anuj Jotin, and that was that.

Newbuildings celebrate a wicket

Jason Dunn's 22 and 20 from Johnny Thompson were to be the highlights of the fourth innings as Newbuildings collapsed to 90 all out.

Jotin (4-18), Dave O'Sullivan (3-24) and the outstanding McBrine (2-24) claimed the honours with the ball as the end of the game closed out pretty tamely.

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Unfortunate for Newbuildings that they went into the contest without key all-rounder Ryan Hunter, and best wishes to him as he recovers from a bad hamstring tear in recent weeks, while Gareth McKeegan and Johnny Thompson also picked up injuries during the game.