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