Despite the potential for a few red faces there were no shocks to report as the second round ties in the Northern Bank Senior Cup were finally settled apart from Sion Mills v Donemana, albeit in conditions more akin to October than the end of May.

None of the Division 2 sides really came close to pulling off an unexpected win and despite several interruptions to play throughout the day most of the games were settled long before the Barcelona express pulled up at Wembley gates.

The big game of the day, at least in the cup, featured the Waterside derby between Brigade and Glendermott and on a day when pitches played slow and low early on, Beechgrove was no different.

The visitors batted first but found runs really hard to come by as the hosts' attack took a real stranglehold on proceedings. Only a modest 21 from Stephen Smyth served to offer token resistance as a steady stream of wickets saw Gordon Montgomery's side slump to 108 for 8.

Iftikhar Hussain's 10 overs cost just 18 runs and both Johnny Thompson and Ata-Ur-Rehman used conditions well to claim 2 for 23 and 2 for 34 respectively.

Just when it looked as though Mark Simpson's men would skittle their neighbours however, Glendermott's number 9 Jason Lynch decided he was going to have himself some fun. Lynch set about the final overs in cavalier style and was particularly sore on the Brigade skipper, clubbing 2 fours and 2 sixes from Simpson's last.

Amazingly, he and Rodney Pearson added an unbroken 70-run stand for the 9th wicket; Lynch's share an impressive 46 not out as Brigade were set a much more menacing 178.

Chris Dougherty hit the ground running as the home side began the chase, the first wicket put on 36 before David Barr became the first of Pearson's four victims, Barr having made just 2 of those.

Dougherty and Iftikhar Hussain then settled down to take their neighbours on before the former was trapped leg before by Pearson who was easily the pick of the attack.

The opener had made 59 before being dismissed, his innings consisting of 10 fours, 3 sixes and a single. Hussain was altogether much more patient, seeing things through to the end with an unbeaten 48 while Rehman added a very valuable 40 in a 5-wicket win.

Despite an excellent effort of 4 for 31 from Rodney Pearson, Glendermott's lack of a cutting edge in the attack did little to help their cause.

As expected there was little joy for Killyclooney at Ballymagorry as Fox Lodge sailed into the quarter finals with a bloodless victory. Greg Stewart made an unbeaten 26 in the middle order but despite a cameo from Alan Colhoun this was all one-way traffic from the start.

Gareth Heywood did most of the damage, returning figures of 5 for 28 while Andy Britton and Darryl Brown picked up two apiece as the Foxies restricted their visitors to just 95 all out.

After that it was just a question of how soon and although Jason Milligan clubbed a full toss from Mark Snodgrass straight to Ken Colhoun who picked up a sharp catch, that was the visitors' only success.

South African Darryl Brown finished unbeaten on 34 and Killyclooney old boy Dean McCarter ended the contest with a 6 as he added 28 not out in a 9-wicket romp.

Ardmore put up a slightly better show at Eglinton but the villagers were still much too strong and recorded a 7-wicket win in another game broken up by the weather.

Paul Brolly did best with the bat for the Bleachgreen side with 22 and Gerard McAuley added 21 in the middle order but the visitors' were dealt a bitter blow when West Indian Adrian Murphy was trapped lbw by professional Ryan Butterworth without scoring.

Ardmore took more than 41 overs to put together a total of 118 as Zimbabwean Butterworth returned figures of 3 for 25 and Andy Millar claimed 3 for 26.

The hosts didn't hang about with the weather starting to draw in again and skipper Andy Christie made an unbeaten half century and Chris Pierce chipped in with 25 as they lost three wickets in the chase.

Drummond did best of the Division 2 sides when they gave Coleraine a run for their money at a chilly Sandel Lodge before going down by 53 runs.

Gordon Cooke removed the dangerous Ian McGregor with the first ball of the match and when Charlie McCrum followed soon after the hosts were reeling on 14 for 2.

Skipper Tim Chopra then steadied the ship with a composed half century that included 8 boundaries whilst the middle order did its bit- Paul Douglas making 37, Scott Campbell 28, Sami Prakash 26 and David Cooke 20 in a total of 214 for 7.

The visitors were soon in trouble however as David Cooke and Stephen Dunn took out the top four batsmen with just 41 on the board. Stevie Moore led the fightback with 33 before Paul McIlmoyle (40) and Andrew Allen (32) gave the Bannsiders a nudge towards the end.

Drummond were finally all out for 161; David Cooke claiming 3 for 27 and Stephen Dunn 2 for 16 from his solid 8 overs.

There was one league game in the top flight of the Billy Henderson Properties section 1 and reigning champions Strabane finally got the better of Bready to get their title defence back on track.
The hosts found batting plenty hard enough early on and despite 41 from skipper Jonathan Beukes they looked far from in control at 96 for 5.

How many times have Strabane found themselves in that type of situation and been bailed out by one or other of the Gillespie boys however and this week was Mark's turn.

The left hander posted a chance-less 106, hitting 6 fours and 6 sixes on the way and found a willing partner in Mark Roulston who contributed a very valuable first half century in Strabane colours.

Those two combined for a 116-run stand that saw the Red Caps able to set their visitors a daunting 254 to win as Mark Olphert, David Scanlon and Ian Young all claimed two wickets for Bready.

The visitors have found batting difficult this year so far but despite losing Brian Scanlon and Steven Clarke cheaply, Mark Olphert and professional Agha Sabir Ali rallied to put them back in the match. The former made 43 and the Bready overseas man added 57 but despite a late 44 from Ian Young, Bready had fallen well behind the rate.

Martin Deans bowled very well to claim 3 for 30 on his return to duty and Mark Gillespie added a couple of wickets to his “ton” as Bready were 52 runs short at the end.

With the league action put back due to the cup games being re-scheduled it is a very busy week upcoming for the majority of senior sides. The other four league matches originally scheduled for Saturday past will now go ahead this midweek, then next Saturday sees the quarter final ties of the Northern Bank cup and next Sunday another full league programme.

As well as that the four local sides still to play their first round matches in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup have those games to take care of therefore all eyes will be skywards over the coming days. As always we will keep you posted on developments.

QUARTER FINAL DRAW FOR NORTHERN BANK SENIOR CUP

FOX LODGE V SION/DONEMANA

LIMAVADY V STRABANE

BRIGADE V BREADY

COLERAINE V EGLINTON