Champions finish on the road at Fox Lodge

After the cup was presented to skipper David Cooke the champagne flowed freely as the celebrations began.

The home side batting first scored 288 for 6 with Niall McDonnell scoring 118 before retiring hurt although the Brigade men put up a respectable response they were all out for 174.

The Bannsiders are worthy winners, they recruited wisely during the close season and their signings certainly played their part with a number of young players also shining.

The scene was set the previous day at Beechgrove when the Bannsiders were bowled out for just 121 with Brigade’s pace bowler Johnny Thompson returning figures of 5 for 26.

The home side must have fancied their chances but an absolute wonderful spell of bowling from South African opening bowler Jarred Barnes had the home side back in the pavilion all out for just 51 with Barnes taking eight wickets for just 22 runs.

Strabane pulled away from the relegation battle with a win at Fox Lodge, the home side scored 261 for 5 with Iftikhar Hussain top scoring with 115, however an unbeaten 87 from Peter Gillespie saw the red caps win by four wickets.

Glendermott entertained Donemana and after restricting Richard Kee’s side to 169 with the skipper top scoring with 76, the Bonds Street men fell 37 runs short to leave them bottom of the table.

Bready despite a win at Eglinton still remain second from bottom, they bowled the Villagers out for 203 with Stuart Thompsom again in form with 51 and Andrew Pierce scoring 58, Roman Ramoo returning excellent figures of 6 for 33.

It was then Ramoo’s turn to shine with the bat being undefeated on 111 as the Magheramason side won by seven wickets.

Fox Lodge v Coleraine

The champions will want to end their season with a win, they also have the Faughan Valley Cup Final the following Sunday to look forward to, they are certainly worthy champions who have a lot of hard working people behind the scenes.

The Foxies will consider this to have been a reasonable season but it could have been a lot better as they have slipped up in recent weeks, they also may not be at full strength.

Prediction: Coleraine.

Eglinton v Brigade

Nothing to play for in this one after last weeks results, the Villagers have introduced a couple of promising young players and they should perform even better next season.

What a disappointing end of the season for the Beechgrove side, they brought in some quality players at the beginning of the season with the likes of Ian McGregor and Ryan Hunter but they failed to produce any silverware and that has to be a major disappointment.

Prediction: Brigade.