Tweet of the week: @Green23 (Trent Johnston) ‘Guys bailing out on the Northern XI over the past few days, Big Roy Torrens was ready 2 jump in. #hehasntlostit’

The RSA Leinster Senior Cup final comes to Claremont Road for the first time on Saturday, and the Sandymount venue should make for a memorable day.

Clontarf are warm favourites, but a young and exciting Pembroke side have no fear. “They have Poynter, Cusack, Delany and Coghlan”, says captain Theo Lawson, “but we have a strong enough bowling attack to bowl them out for under 200. “And with Andy Balbirnie back, our pro Jonathan Beukes and myself we should have enough to win the game.”

Lawson has a scored 500 runs this summer, and tops the Division 2 averages which see five Pembroke batsmen in the top eight, and four of their bowlers in the top nine.

While the Dublin 4 side are without Robin Kelly and Barry McCarthy – in Australia with the Under 19s – Clontarf have their international pair of Andrew Poynter and Alex Cusack back having missed the semi-final.

Tarf got a first round bye and then beat Old Belvedere in a bowl-out before they turned on the style in the semi against Railway. Their star that day was skipper Bill Coghlan, who made an unbeaten 108.

“We’re very confident”, Coghlan told the Star. “I don’t know much about Pembroke but they’ll miss Barry McCarthy. We’ve great experience of the 60 over game. Rod Hokin taught us a lot about building a platform around 45 overs and going from there.”

And while Tarf have featured in nine finals this century, winning five, only Bill Whaley – back in 1997 – has played in a final with Pembroke. That experience should tell.

Play starts at 11am, and live radio commentary will be provided by Fergus Carroll on NearFM 90.3.

Performance of the week: take a bow Max Sorensen, whose hat-trick at Waringstown blew away the Northern XI.

Junior performance of the week: former Canterbury and West Hartlepool rugby star Ivan Morgan took up cricket after he came to Dublin, and made his maiden century on Sunday for Railway Union’s 5th XI.

The Battle of the Big Hitters in Pembroke on Friday will see a spectacular turnout of sporting talent as CricketIreland take on Leinster Rugby in a T20 match. Isa Nacewa, Richardt Strauss and Jordan Coghlan have some cricket experience, but the emphasis on the family day is fun and fund-raising for Spinal Injuries Ireland. Play starts at 3.30pm and tickets can be bought in advance from ticketmaster.ie