Senior Cup Final spots up for grabs

Glendermott are in third place with a host of clubs sharing fourth spot.

On Sunday Limavady and Strabane booked their place in the Club Turf Ulster Cup semi-finals after wins over North Down and Waringstown; however Bready bowed out losing at home to Instonians.

This weekend sees the semi-finals of the Northern Bank Senior Cup with one semi on Saturday and the other one on Sunday, while also on Sunday Brigade play Civil Service North, in the Club Turf quarter-final.

Senior Cup

Eglinton v Brigade

The Beechgrove side will go into this one as firm favourites; however their form has been far from impressive in some games this season when so much was expected of them. Their bowling especially was disappointing in their defeat at Strabane last week.

They have still some excellent players in their side with quality such as opening pair Niall McDonnell and Chris Dougherty followed by Iftikhar Hussain.

Eglinton skipper Andy Christie is very confident that his side can reach the final; they have recently lost the experienced Nigel Thompson who has joined Limavady to add to a number of defectors in the close season.

They have good players such as Colin Pierce the Stewart brothers, Johnny Gardiner as well as the skipper himself, sure to be plenty of runs on an excellent track.

Prediction: Brigade.

Sunday

Donemana v Strabane

This is a hard one to call, the men from the Holm will see this as their last chance to get some silverware this season. However they have not been as good so far as in previous seasons. Azhar Shaffique especially has yet to hit the heights expected of him and one or two others have been struggling to perform consistently.

Strabane go into this one in great form having beaten Brigade last Saturday and then winning at Waringstown on Sunday, a lot of their batsmen are getting runs but Peter and Mark Gillespie especially have been in outstanding form.

Prediction: Donemana.

Club Turf

Civil Service North v Brigade

This game at Stormont will determine the remaining semi finalist, the home side lost to Glendermott in the Irish Senior Cup a couple of weeks ago but they showed in that game that they are a formidable outfit.

Mark Simpson's side will still be missing Trevor Britton from their bowling attack and only Johnny Thompson performed with the ball at Strabane which has to be a worry, however before then they were doing well and if they return to form they may go through.

Prediction: Brigade.