Big weekend for top two

The top two have home advantage as they look to consolidate their respective promotion pushes, the Saints hosting Creevedonnell while Ardmore entertain Sion.

Gary Neely’s team can ill afford another defeat when they travel to the Boathole but they will have to bat a lot better than of late if they want to put an end to the Donegal team’s run.

Ardmore can take nothing for granted against a spirited Sion side that remains capable of causing a surprise.

At full strength and with their eye on the ball however it is very difficult to look beyond Lee Brolly’s team, especially on their own patch.

Killyclooney will be desperately hoping to break their duck for the season as they host Bonds Glen but the visitors need to get back on track themselves after their mauling by Ardmore.

Sammy McElhatton’s team are going to win before long you feel and if they get Dilruk early they would have a chance here.

Easier said than done of course but if they hope to remain in with a shout of being involved in the promotion shake-up the Bee Gees simply have to win this.

Meanwhile with Drummond busy taking care of Senior Cup business, St Johnston and Ardmore seized the opportunity to move further clear in the promotion race, both recording solid wins in Saturday’s matches.

The Saints went to Sion and for the 12th time in 13 games this summer, Alan MacBeth won the toss and batted first.

The Donegal side obviously trust themselves more setting a target than chasing one but the thing that remains consistent with them is a collective team effort.

More often than not the runs and wickets are shared around and to their credit it was more of the same here.

Skipper MacBeth top scored with 58 and shows no signs of slowing down as his team pushes for promotion while Jassi Wallia, their close season signing from Pembroke made an unbeaten 54.

Michael Rankin chipped in with 26 and there were plenty of other cameos in a total of 245 for 7. Mark Patterson and Lee Finlay each claimed two wickets for Sion who also made a good fist of their reply.

Mark McNulty is one of the younger players that the Mill team hopes to build around in coming seasons and he played really well for his 49 against the league leaders. Bryan Reid, another who has played little cricket of late showed his worth with 41 however despite a gutsy effort the home side never really looked like chasing down the total.

Walia, Rammohan Goud, Ryan MacBeth and David Lapsley all picked up two wickets for the Saints in a 54 run verdict.