It’s not often the player of the match is on the losing side but even Woodvale could not dispute that  Instonians professional Shane Dadswell deserved any individual award that was coming. Fact: There wasn’t one.

His innings of 137 on a difficult batting pitch will scarcely be bettered this season but it was destined to be in a losing cause. Mainly because the second top score in the Instonians innings was 17 but also because Woodvale had, by some distance, the easier batting conditions, the pitch drying out under the sun at Ballygomartin Road.

So first, Finn Restieaux, with 62 from 59 balls and then Dadswell’s opposite number, Ludwig Kaestner with 91 not out from 78 balls saw the home team to an eight wickets victory with more than 13 overs to spare. Yes, the difference in conditions from one innings to the next was that big.

It must be said, though, it wasn’t all down to skill on the day. After losing the toss, undoubtedly the soft nature of the pitch got into the heads of the Instonians players, afraid to play any attacking strokes and not only did they change their original batting order – Cian Robertson was sent in to try and see off the new ball – but at the drinks interval, when the champions were 92 for seven, captain Nikolai Smith, already dismissed for a duck, had a long conversation in the middle with the umpires.

At that stage, he probably would have been happy for the game to be abandoned, but then everyone would have been deprived of watching an innings that will last long in the memory. Dadswell was 31 not out at the time, and running out of partners. But while Smith was protesting to the umpires, Dadswell was planning his strategy for the remainder of the innings. It would last another 129 balls. The South African faced 100 of them.

Luke McCann stayed with him for the next nine overs, scoring seven runs from 19 balls before he nicked off against Ashwin Shetty who then bowled Ben Rose two balls later. Instonians were 139 for nine and there were 16.2 overs left to bat.

In the eighth wicket partnership, Dadswell had given a taste of things to come – at one stage he faced three consecutive overs – but in the last wicket stand it was literally a one-man show, with Dadswell turning down any singles available from the first four balls of an over when he was on strike. Not that  he needed them.

He hit his eighth and ninth sixes in consecutive overs before a couple of twos brought up his century. He celebrated with four sixes and one four in the next three overs before he finally holed out to long-off, giving Harry Warke his fourth catch of the innings.

There were 26 balls unused but in the end it didn’t matter and he got the standing ovation he richly deserved, from friends and foes alike, as he returned to the pavilion. Following him in, to an extra special ovation from his team-mates was Freddie Pearson who may not have contributed any runs to the stand of 70 but kept out eight balls to allow Dadswell to shine.

Shetty, his medium pace perfectly in tune with the pitch, was rewarded with four wickets but whether he should have bowled his full quota was also questionable because he appeared to be called for two above waist full tosses but was not taken out of the attack.

It should also be mentioned that Instonians were without their two Ireland Test squad players, Cade Carmichael and Matthew Humphreys as well as in-form Sully Gould, because of a family bereavement.

Pearson has been bowling well for the Seconds but he only got one over against Woodvale – it lasted 11 balls -  but the other pace bowlers, including Dadswell, who bowled only five overs, fared no better.

Slow bowlers Andrew White and Robertson were the only threat to the Woodvale batters – and took the only wickets, Warke to Robertson’s arm ball and Restieaux to a fine return catch by the veteran all-rounder.

But Instonians knew they had to remove at least one of Kaestner and Ruhan Pretorius to have any chance of victory and neither gave a chance. The captain was content to play second fiddle as Kaestner brought up a run-a-ball 50 with his third six and he added four more – including three in succession off Rose - to go with five fours before hitting the winning run.

It was a second defeat in three days for Instonians and Irish Cup favourites Pembroke, albeit also under-strength, lie in wait on Sunday.

It gets no easier for Woodvale either with Cup holders Balbriggan the visitors to Ballygomartin  Road. But at least it is another home game – and it will be played on a dry, firmer pitch.