Beckett Cup wins in the 1970s

Beckett Cup Wins

Clontarf won the Beckett Cup, a cross border competition, twice in the 1970s.  The first report is a contemporary newspaper report while the second win had a dramatic finale and is drawn from various sources.

1970 Beckett Cup Final

“Clontarf score exciting win”

Clontarf won the Beckett Cup (40 overs) by 8 runs after an exciting finish against Donemana at Castle Avenue, yesterday.  Only 9 balls remained when McDermott, Clontarf’s captain, caught Dunne, to finish off the visitor’s innings.

It was McDermott’s match.  Opening the innings he scored 96 (one 6 and nine 4s) before being run out in a misunderstanding with Spence.

Clontarf qualified for the final as last year’s Leinster midweek 20 overs League winners: Donemana’s qualification was their winning the mid Ulster Cup.  It was the third attempt at disposing of the 1970 final.  The previous fixtures had been rained off.

Clontarf

E.A.McDermott run out                                                96

F.J. Carroll run out                                           16

L.P. Hughes b J.Cochrane                             0

A.W. Spence lbw  McBrine                           26

G.P. Murphy c and b Curry                           4

P.M. Murphy run out                                     2

S. Ellis run out                                                    1

M.R. Bunworth c Curry b McBrine            7

R Taylor b Curry                                                                2

D Taylor not out                                                3

H. Honohan c Curry b McBrine                   2

Extras                                                                    10

Total                                                                      169

Bowling J Cochrane 1 for 55, Curry 2 for 45, Caldwell 0 for 36, McBrine 3 for 22

Donemana

J Cochrane b Bunworth                                                 11

D.V. Caldwell b P Murphy                             20

I Cochrane b Bunworth                                                 7

R. McBrine c G.Murphy b P. Murphy       12

A. Fullerton c Ellis b P. Murphy                   2

B. Curry run out                                                3

I Doughterty c G.Murphy b R.Taylor        58

F. Kee c Honohan b R.Taylor                        14

B Corry b P. Murphy                                       0

A Dunne  c McDermott b R.Taylor             12

H. Henderson not out                                    8

Extras                                                                    15

Total                                                                      162

Bowling  Bunworth 2 for 25, P. Murphy 4 for 60, R. Taylor 3 for 43, Ellis 0 for 19

Clontarf win by 8 runs

1972 Beckett Cup win

Like the 1970 version of the event, the 1972 had its scheduling problems and this final only took place on 8^th September 1973, with Castle Avenue again the venue.  This time Brigade was the opposition and they had some star players in their ranks.  Clarke Nicholl, who was an outstanding player for the North West interprovincial team led the batting line up but Clontarf had a stroke of luck in the their top bowler Roy Torrens (currently manager of the Irish international team) was on away on a tour to the United States and Canada with the Ireland squad.  Clontarf were without their frontline batsman, Noel Grier but otherwise it was a strong home side.

The game itself was something of a thriller, as Sean Pender of the Irish Times reported “a more exciting, fictional finish would test the flair of even the great story tellers”.  Bridgade batted first in this 40 over game and managed 113 for 8, with David Todd top scoring with 29.  Ernie Bodell showed his quality in returning bowling figures of 5 for 43 in his 16 overs.  Clontarf seemed well on course to win the trophy when they were 87 for 4 with 12 overs remaining.  Enda McDermott and Podge Hughes were at the wicket and going well.  They had, however recovered and earlier indifferent start with a partnership of 45.  Podge was better known as a fast bowler but he was also a fine striker of this ball and he had made 27 (2 sixes and 1 four) when he was bowled by Ray Hepburn. At 99, Enda fell for 41 but with 4 wickets remaining and only 14 runs required, there was no panic.  However with just 7 needed Bernie Daly was bowled by opening bowler John Watson, things were getting too close for comfort. Todd then disposed of Peter Daly with 5 required and 2 wickets left. Bill Dalton Brown, a West Indian opening bowler, brought the score to 112 before he played on to Watson, leaving the final pairing of Ernie Bodell and Michael Delaney at the wicket.  Delaney survived a huge LBW appeal first ball, and in the confusion Ernie Bodell called for and got home for a single leaving the scores tied. There were 2 more balls left, in this the penultimate over, but Bodell failed to make contact with either, leaving Michael Delaney to face the final over facing David Todd. With the second ball, Todd skittled Delaney leaving the cores level and the match tied.

Brigade: 113 for 8.  D. Todd 29, E. Bodell 5 for 38

Clontarf: 113 all out. E McDermott 41, L.P. Hughes 27, D. Todd 5 for 22 (16 overs),Watson 3 for 44, R. Hepburn 2-12

Match tied.

The Best Bowling

To take 10 wickets in an innings is, for a bowler, the pinnacle; you just cannot get better than that. It is, of course an extremely rare occurrence – in the Club’s history it was only been achieved on three occasions.   The three bowlers were S. Devitt in an under 14 game in 1956, Paddy Monaghan for the 5^th team in 1963 and Micky McTiernan for the 2nds in 1987.  Sadly, official records of these feats do not survive.  It has remained an elusive feat at Senior League Level and has only been achieved on four occasions.  On two occasions, however, Clontarf bowlers have been tantalisingly close; here is the story of those amazing spells of bowling.

For over 30 years, Ernie Bodell was a mainstay of the Clontarf bowling attack and as a seamer he earned six Irish caps (at a time when the Irish team played very few games).  In July 1950, he was a 21 year old beginning to make his way in the Senior Team.  The game in which he came so close to the ultimate was a two evening affair against Pembroke in the opposition’s ground at Sydney Parade.  Pembroke batted first, but Ernie had to wait for his chances as Alfie Cooper and Des Fitzgerald opened the bowling.  Alfie Cooper was himself an interesting character, he was capped not just by Ireland but also the USA, who he captained after he emigrated.   They made no inroads into the Pembroke line-up and Stanley Bergin and Ciaran O’Maille started very steadily.  Bergin, already, an international, was a very high class batsman (and father to Brendan who would later captain Clontarf) and only the previous week he had scored 34 and 20 against Nottinghamshire in a two-day game in College Park for the Irish side.  On this occasion, however, he met his match and was bowled by Bodell for 23.  What followed was an amazingly spell of bowling, not just because Ernie proceeded to take the next 8 wickets but 8 of the 9 wickets that he took were clean bowled.  Furthermore, his first 8 wickets were all bowled, the final one he caught and bowled the opener O’Maille who had stood firm while the carnage took place at the other end.  O’Maille made 67 and on his dismissal Pembroke declared, leaving Ernie with final figures of 19 overs, 9 wickets at a cost of 36 runs, and no doubt a sense of what might have been.  Pembroke wicket keeper, Joe Hopkins must have felt some relief that he was not asked to bat that evening.  The Pembroke innings therefore closed at 134 and Clontarf had to wait till the following evening to start their reply.   

Ernie Bodell

This was not to be a story with a happy ending, for when Clontarf returned to Sydney Parade the following night, they were unable to match Ernie Bodell’s heroics of the previous evening and were bowled out for 105, 29 runs short of their target.  Bodell, batting number 11 was at least able to hold his head up high as the “not out” batsman, but no doubt the final result tarnished slightly what was an outstanding individual display.

Fast forward 50 years to 1990, still in the Sandymount area, but this time YMCA’s ground at Claremont Road. It was here that Brian MacNeice would join Ernie Bodell in the record books.  Brian had started life as a wicket-keeper/batsman but he developed into a fine swing bowler who could consider himself unlucky not to have been capped. This time Clontarf were facing YMCA in the semi-final of the Wiggins Teape League.  YM were the outstanding team of the period and in the 1990 Leinster Senior Cup Final they had beaten Clontarf in heart-breaking circumstances, heart-breaking for Clontarf members anyway.  With home and psychological advantage, they entered this game as the favourites to advance to the final of this popular season ending competition.  When they restricted Clontarf to 177 for 9 in their 50 overs, they were firmly in the driving seat.  On the other hand, Clontarf will have been more than happy to reach that total, particularly as at one stage they were 44 for 4 and struggling.  Not for the first time, it was Enda McDermott who dropped anchor and steadily the ship, for without his 59 and some late hitting from Brendan Bergin and Feargal O’Mahony, Clontarf would have been in serious trouble.

Even so, defending 177 would be no easy job against a team with internationals Mark Nulty, Angus Dunlop, Keith Bailey, Stuart Taylor and Alan Lewis (who always seemed to up his game against Clontarf).  However, as early as the third over, YM were in trouble when Nulty was caught off the bowling of Brian MacNeice and not long after Brian bowled the Australian David Starkey to leave YM 18 for 2. This was the crucial period of the game, the big guns Dunlop and Lewis were at the crease and they consolidated.  At 42 however, Alan McClean caught Lewis and Brian had his third.  There followed a steady fall of wickets as Brian supported by the ever dependable Gerry Kirwan plugged away at the YMers.  The big wicket of Dunlop fell at 78 when Johnny Daly caught him behind the wicket and MacNeice had all 6 wickets to fall.  YM did recover again and Eamon Masterson, Stuart McCready and Neil Bailey all threatened to win the game, however after 23 consectutive overs, MacNeice had taken 9 wickets for 77 runs.  Then Stuart McCready danced down the wicket to Gerry Kirwan and tried to hit him out of the ground, he missed and Johnny Daly, only after encouragement from the bowler, took the bails off to leave YMCA all out for 133. Brian had come so close to a 10 wicket haul, but it was still an amazing feat not just of skill but also stamina.


Brian MacNeice in action

 In the current league structures whereby bowlers can only 10 overs, it is unlikely that these feats can ever be matched never mind beaten but the challenge remains for the bowlers.  For now we salute the two bowlers who have set the high mark in the Club’s history.

Ladies cricket in the 1940's

The Leinster Ladies Cricket League was set up in 1941 and Clontarf were winners in 1942.  The following newspaper spreads come from the Times Pictorial (inc The Weekly Irish Times) and show the coverage Ladies cricket could generate.  Pages 1 and 2 come from 1943 and cover a North v South Dublin game in Leinster CC.  The batswoman walking out to bat on Pages 1 is Marie Callaghan who might be better known to current Clontarf members Marie Coffey who would still be a major player for Clontarf when cricket restarted in the 1970s.  (Note: by clicking on the image you will be able to see a larger version)

Page 2

Page 3

 This pages is from the same newspaper but from an 1947 edition and covers a Leinster trial.  This game shows Clontarf CC as it was up to the 50's i.e on what is now the rugby pitch.

The Marchant Cup and Clontarf

In what was a disappointing season for our 1^st team this year, one of the few bright spots was Bill Coghlan winning the Marchant Cup.  In doing so Bill became only the eighth Clontarf player to win this award which is presented to the batsman (other than overseas professional players) who has the best average in Senior Cricket. The award was first presented in 1921, so Bill’s achievement in topping the list allows him entrance to a very exclusive band of the Club’s elite.  The first winner from Clontarf was E.N. (Ted)Seymour in 1930 whose 337 runs at 37.44 was enough to bring the trophy north-side, however only one player has won twice, J.B. (Brian) Bunworth , in1968 and ten years later in 1978. The other winners were W.J. (Bill) Moynan (1945), W.E. Haughton (1948) with the highest Clontarf average of 70.80), N.C. (Noel) Mahony (1952), L.C. (Louis) Jacobson (1959) and M.P. (Michael) Rea (1991). 




Bill Coghlan is presented with 2012 Marchant Cup

 However, Clontarf’s association with the Marchant Cup is an extremely close one, in that the person the trophy honours was, in fact, a Clontarf member and player. The trophy was presented to the Leinster Cricket Union in 1922 by Thomas Frederick Marchant in memory of his son, who had been killed in World War 1.

Charles Stewart Marchant, (known as Stewart) was born on 21 June 1895 to Thomas and Kathleen Marchant of 16 Castlewood Park, Rathmines, only a stone’s throw away from Leinster Cricket Club. Stewart joined Clontarf CC in 1914 and before his 19^th birthday was opening the batting for the first team.  He did so with some success too, in his first and what would be only season, he played in 14 games, scoring 237 runs at an average of 19.75 with a top score of 49.  Between 1914 and 1918, there was to be no cricket and like many young men, Stewart joined the Royal Dublin Fussilers. Sadly, he was killed in action on 4^th June 1917 and was buried in Belgium.

The Marchant Cup was presented to the Leinster Cricket Union at their Annual General Meeting held in the Engineer’s Hall, Dawson Street in January 1922.  Appropriately, it was J.G. (John) Aston who presented the trophy on behalf of the Marchant family to the Union.  Not only was Aston the finest Clontarf cricketer of the time, he was also the person who had proposed young Stewart Marchant as a member to the club.  In a touching speech he spoke about the loss of a young man who had shown not just bravery in his military life but also of the loss of a talented sportsman.     It then fell on His Honour Judge Green, a vice president of the Union, to present the award to R.H. (Bob) Lambert who had topped the list for 1921 with an extraordinary average of 217.   Lambert was 46 during the 1921 season but he was possibly the greatest of Irish cricketers and it was entirely appropriate that his was the first name on the cup. Interestingly, he used the occasion of accepting the award to comment on the dearth of first-class bowlers in Ireland.  Clearly, despite his age, he still wanted to be challenged.

The Marchant Cup has not been to Clontarf often enough, so the challenge to the batsmen of the future is to rectify that.



War Memorial inc C.S. Marchant of Clontarf Cricket and Football Clubs