NCU Premier League champions Instonians crashed to their third defeat in four days, in three different competitions, as Pembroke showed their strength in depth in the Irish Cup.
Without their Ireland Test players plus the injured Barry McCarthy and JJ Garth, Pembroke bowled out Instonians for just 93 to win by 121 runs.
Sunil Gupta top scored for the visitors with 60 not out from 52 balls, while Bryon McDonough hit two sixes in an unbeaten 17 in the last wicket partnership.
McDonough then made the breakthrough, having Neil Rock caught for 10 with only Robert McKinley in his first match of the season providing any resistance as Instonians crashed to 60 for eight.
Paul Lawson, McDonough and Addison Sheriff shared the wickets in a real statement win for the Sydney Parade side.
A superb opening spell of 8-3-20-6 by captain Ruhan Pretorius set Woodvale up for a stunning victory at Ballgomartin Road and end Balbriggan’s reign as Irish Cup holders at the first hurdle.
Pretorius single-handedly reduced Balbriggan to 46 for six and only a rearguard 43, from 98 balls by Aaron McGeehan allowed the north Dubliners to bat 40 overs. He was last man out with the total on 138.
It proved no problem for the NCU side, who had beaten Premier League champions Instonians the previous day.
Ludwig Kaestner also took three wickets and added 84 with Pretorius, who finished the job with the bat as well; he was 51 not out when Woodvale won in the 43rd over.
Ben Calitz failed to make the Ireland Test squad but that proved a winning bonus for Lisburn who knocked out NCU rivals North Down.
Chasing the home side’s 245, Calitz joined his captain Neil Whitworth in the middle with Lisburn on 61 for three.
They didn’t lose another wicket with Calitz finishing 120 not out, from 95 balls (six fours, nine sixes) and Whitworth 62 not out (four fours, two sixes).
Earlier, Steven Saul dominated the North Down innings, scoring 107, with 11 fours and three sixes but when he was caught behind off Whitworth in the 41st over, the Comber side lost their last six wickets for 32 runs and failed to bat out the overs.
Professional Jon Hinrichsen claimed the last four wickets, all lbw, for figures of six for 34.
Railway Union reached the second round of the Irish Cup with a 36 runs victory over CI in a competitive clash at Belmont.
Irish youth internationals Rob O’Brien and Bruce Whaley put on 89 for the second wicket in just 18 overs to give the visitors a solid platform and 30s from Abhay Tipnis and Hayden Hamilton got them up to 245 for eight.
CI were immediately on the back foot, reduced to 28 for three at the start of the 10th over but Chris Dougherty and Charles Swart put on 94 for the next wicket to keep the game interesting.
At 181 for six, with 10 overs to go and CI captain John Matchett still in the middle, the game was up for grabs but Railway wrapped up the match in the 46th over.
Premier League leaders Muckamore were shocked by Civil Service North as the Stormont side won the all-NCU tie by four wickets in the last over.
Muckamore professional Neil Brand proved he was human, dismissed for 17 by the in-form Adam Leckey and only Jason van der Merwe stepped up in his place, to top score with 76.
Indeed it needed an unbeaten ninth wicket stand of 38 between Allen Coulter and Luka Bates to get them up to 230.
All the CSN batters contributed in an impressive chase. No partnership was longer than 10 overs and the highest was 53 - only Jake Collingwood reached 50 - but captain Stuart Thompson and Finn Lutton saw them home with five balls to spare.
Tom O’Connor scored an unbeaten century at Rathmines as Leinster beat Clontarf for the second time in two days to progress to the quarter-finals of the Irish Senior Cup.
After winning their league clash at Castle Avenue on Saturday, Leinster again dominated, posting 277 and dismissing the visitors for 85 to win by 192 runs.
O’Connor was unbeaten on 102 when the innings ended in the 46th over. He faced only 81 balls, hitting eight sixes and four fours. Tom Johnson (39), Reuben Newton (24) and Jai Moondra (29) contributed useful cameos but Leinster will be disappointed to have been bowled out 4.3 overs short of their 50.
The Clontarf chase suffered an early blow when Seamus Lynch fell to Moondra’s third ball and the paceman proved almost impossible to get away as he took 2-4 from six overs. The other wickets were shared between Bilal Azhar (3-32) Mark Tonge (2-14) and man-of-the-match O’Connor (3-32).
What looked on paper to be an evenly-matched clash at The Village turned into a one-sided rout as Malahide romped to a 10-wicket victory over visitors Donemana with 37.1 overs to spare.
The Co Tyrone side’s top order struggled against the home attack with only Jamie Huey and Gary McClintock reaching double figures and it took a fighting 31 not out from Joe Robinson at number nine to lift Donemana to 127 all out.
Malahide captain Jeremy Martins proved particularly difficult to get away as he took 3-17 with his pace while Robbie Foulkes claimed 4-31 and James Newland returned 3-44.
Any faint hopes Donemana had of defending their meagre total were quickly blown away by a flurry of boundaries from opener Alan Reynolds who went to 41-ball century with his ninth six — which also was the final shot of the match.
Donemana’s defeat ends the North West Cricket Union’s participation in the Irish Senior Cup after only two rounds.
Rush pulled off the shock of the round as they chased 287 to beat fancied Merrion.
Half centuries from Corne Botha and Daniel Forkin took the hosts to 286 for 7 - four wickets for Isaac Bird.
The chase was exemplary with half centuries for Abidullah Taniwal and skipper Nathan McGuire, while there were supporting knocks from Isaac Bird (41) and Jack McGee (34) in a victory that must be right up in their history.
Could they add an Irish Senior Cup title to their four National Cup triumphs?
