A superb undefeated hundred from Ireland International Andrew Poynter catapulted Clontarf to their first RSA Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup victory with an over to spare.
Chasing a Merrion total of 253 for 7 wickets Clontarf paced their innings to perfection and it was fitting that Poynter reached his hundred with a classic cover drive for 4 and then hit the winning single 2 balls later.
Poynter shared crucial partnerships of 89 with Andre Botha and then 97 with Clontarf captain Eoghan Delany and although the game went to the penultimate over Clontarf never appeared under pressure.
Poynter deservedly won the man of the match award and will surely have reminded Ireland coach Phil Simmons, who presented the award, of his abilities.
The victory means that Andre Botha now has a record six Irish Senior Cup medals, 5 with North County and now with the club that he started out with almost two decades ago. Although Merrion bowled steadily they lacked penetration and they were also let down by some poor fielding at times.
Earlier Merrion won the toss and chose to bat on a cloudy but warm morning and after a very slow start Merrion eventually reached a very competitive 253 for 7 wickets in their 50 overs.
Clontarf opening bowler Zander van der Merwe removed Beasley for 0 with the sixth ball of the match and when Ackland was dismissed LBW for 9 in the tenth over to Joe Morrissey Merrion had crawled to 18 for 2.This brought to the wicket John Anderson, arguably the best club batsman in Ireland.
Yet again he did not disappoint and in partnership with Brett Thompson took the score to 161 with an initially steady and then fluent partnership of 143. Thompson fell for 78 but Anderson carried on and when a century seemed inevitable was caught for 87 trying to get quick runs at the end of the innings.
Anderson has scored 371 runs in the tournament and has only been dismissed three times. A late flurry of runs from Dom Joyce ensured that the Anderson-Thompson partnership was not squandered. Joyce scored a rapid 50 of just 30 balls. The only Clontarf bowler to contain Merrion was van der Merwe who finished with the very credible figures of 4 for 46 of his 10 overs on a slow wicket which give little help to the seam bowlers.
Clontarf's Eoghan Delaney bats ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
