Lisburn are the first team into the final of the All-Ireland T20 Cup with a crushing 56 runs victory in a 10-over semi-final win over Co Kerry at Wallace Park.

With 56 runs and no wickets in the three-over powerplay, Lisburn were always on course for a huge total and with Nigel Jones crashing 43 from just 13 balls at the end, the NCU side finished on 134 for four.

The visitors, undaunted, however replied with 22 off Jon Hinrichsen’s opening over, with four boundaries from Qassim Mohammed who then hit Ben Walsh for six from the fourth ball of the second over to give him 22 runs from six balls. But Walsh hit back and finished the over with two wickets and when he made it three in four balls in his next over, it was effectively game over.

Walsh added a fourth wicket with his final ball and then it was just a matter of how many Co Kerry could get and if they could bat out the 10 overs. They managed the latter but were restricted to 78 for nine as Callum Atkinson took two wickets and Ewan Wilson, who was also on a hat-trick, had figures of three for three from his two overs.

After two false starts, because of rain, the match finally got under way two hours and 40 minutes after Co Kerry had won the toss and chose to bowl.

Any hopes of early wickets were shattered by Jude Markham who fired from the off. The first ball of the innings went along the ground to the boundary and the last two balls of the over cleared the fence to start the mayhem.

Twenty runs came off the first over, 17 off the second and 19 more off the third. Of the 56 runs, Markham had hit 46 of them from 13 balls with five sixes and three fours. He managed only a single off Us Sherzad’s second over and was then unluckily run out, backing up only to see Mohsin Taj deflect Neil Whitworth’s drive onto his stumps.

Taj had already bowled David Miller with his first ball but Jones then took over the scoring, dominating a third wicket stand of 52 with Whitworth. The player-coach hit five sixes and two fours before falling to a top edge to backward point.

There was still time for Whitworth to bring his boundary count to three fours and a six but credit to sixth bowler Luqman Kabir who came on for the last over and conceded just five runs and bowled Whitworth.

After the dark clouds which hung over  the ground for so long at the scheduled  start, the second innings was played in bright sunshine and Lisburn will look to shine again at The Lawn on Sunday August 23 when they bid to win the All-Ireland T20 title for the second time in three years.

Their opponents will be decided  on Wednesday night at Sydney Parade when Pembroke host Newbuildings, after the contest on Foyleview was abandoned on Sunday without any play.