1971
Paperback, 94pp

From the author's introduction:

It is alleged that by the middle of the 17th century cricket enjoyed an enormous popularity in Ireland for Cromwell ordered the destruction of all bats and balls in Dublin and large numbers were given up for burning in 1656. Around this time the game spread to England mainly as a result of the English troops stationed in Ireland encountering the game.

Two hundred years later the Irish were again found to have a strong love for the game and by 1856 its popularity was growing fast and there was a great club formation although at this time the game did not appeal to the settlers in Ulster. It took many years after this for he game to catch on in Ulster and even longer for the game to appear in the North West of Ireland.

Competitive cricket started in the North West of Ireland in 1888 and interest in the game increased year by year to the extent that it was considered that the game could have went on in some form during the first war. However, there was a break of four years.

The rush to play cricket again in the North West after the first world war exhibited well the yearning to get back to normal as most of the pre war clubs endeavoured to get back on their feet. But few were to realize then that the next twenty three seasons up until the second world war were to become the greatest years in North West cricket.

The following pages give a full account of the game in the North West between the war years when standards are claimed to have been at their highest level ever but out of all these years the game emerged stronger than before.