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The U’13s Interprovincial series was held this year in Cork. A squad of 13 players representing nine clubs departed for Cork on Sunday, July 1st to defend the trophy won last year in Belfast. The squad was captained by Conor O’Gorman (Leinster CC) and the management team comprised coaches Brad Allam, Kenny Carroll, and manager, Michael O’Gorman.

Heavy overnight rain meant a delayed start to our opening encounter against Munster at the Cork Harlequins ground at Farmer’s Cross and the game was reduced to a 34-over match. Batting first, Leinster made 236 for 3 with Sam Murphy (Pembroke) top-scoring on 69 n.o. ably assisted by Harry Tector (YMCA) who made 60. A young Munster team were all out for 32 in reply with our pace attack spearheaded by Ian Anders (Phoenix) and David O’Connor (Terenure) ripping through the Munster batting line-up with figures of 4 for 10 off 4 and 3 for 14 off 4 respectively.

Unfortunately, that was the only match we played as more rain on Monday night and Tuesday morning meant that not only was our game against NCU abandoned without play but the decision was taken to call off the entire tournament on the Tuesday afternoon in view of forecasts of more rain and the state of the outfields. Leinster retained the Cup by virtue of a better run rate. A previously arranged reception on the Tuesday evening to welcome the four teams at City Hall and hosted by the Lord Mayor of Cork turned into a presentation ceremony which was a very agreeable and hospitable occasion. While it was a very unsatisfactory way to win the Interpros, what can you do?

The bad summer of 2012 wasn’t just confined to Ireland as we found out when Leinster U’13s contested the annual Taunton Cricket Festival held between August 13th and 17th at King’s College, Taunton, Somerset. The 14-player squad was again captained by Conor O’Gorman and this time the management team was made up of coaches Sean MacAuley and Tim Ackland (who is based in Taunton) along with manager, Michael O’Gorman.

Last year’s Leinster U’13s team performed heroics at Taunton winning three out of five matches. Truth be told, we would have been delighted to achieve a similar outcome this year. We got off to an uncertain start on the Monday when Cornwall made a very decent 170 a.o. from 49.4 overs. In reply, Harry Tector top scored with 62 but with the match slipping away from us it took a rip-roaring knock of 31 n.o. off 17 balls from No. 9 batsman, Josh Murphy (Rush), including a 6 over long on off the last ball, to reach 173/8 and result in a dramatic two wicket victory. Josh’s powerful 6 was the talk of the Festival in the coming days.

The momentum gained from that opening win carried us through the week. Batting first on the Tuesday, Leinster made 188/9 off 50 overs against Gloucestershire with Conor O’Gorman our top scorer on 59. Gloucestershire looked home and hosed when on 141 for 3 off 35 but a catastrophic collapse saw them lose their last 7 wickets for only 19 runs with Conor tearing through their batting to take 6 for 18 off 8.4 and see Gloucestershire finish on 160 a.o. with 8.2 overs to spare.

The first of the rain came on Wednesday when our big encounter against mighty Yorkshire was reduced to a 20-over match played on the astroturf hockey pitch at King’s College. In an inspired move, coach Sean MacAuley took the decision to open our innings with Josh Murphy (who had never opened before) and Josh made a KP-like 66 n.o. (including four 6’s and six 4’s) in our total of 121/7 off 20. The conditions suited a spin attack and our four spinners responded admirably with Harry Oppermann (Clontarf) taking 3 wickets and Harry Tector & Conor O’Gorman each taking two wickets with JJ Garth (Pembroke) also taking one. Yorkshire made 67 a.o. off 16.1 overs and didn’t know what hit them. This was a magnificent team performance with a combination of tight bowling and a sustained surge of energy and commitment in the field. The genesis of this fielding display was an intense (but fun) session of fielding drills the evening before run by Tim Ackland. Everything that Tim worked on in that session was put into practice to good effect by the boys the following afternoon.

Our penultimate game (or so we thought) on Thursday was against Cheshire. This match was reduced to a 40-over game due to the forecast of impending rain. We bowled Cheshire out for 108 off 36.2 overs thanks largely to three wickets apiece from Harry Tector and Stephen Gray (North Kildare). In response, Leinster always looked in control in making 111/5 off 34.3 with wicket-keeper, Jamie Grassi (North County), scoring 58 runs largely made up of a spate of fours – 12 in all.

Heavy overnight rain on the Thursday night forced the decision early on Friday morning to abandon the Festival and no further play took place. We were on a roll and I’m confident that we would also have beaten our final opponents, Kent, but of course we’ll never know.

In the course of our preparations for the tournament, Brian O’Rourke prophetically stated that at least one of our top-line batsmen would need to get a big knock in each of the five matches if we were to succeed. With four top scores of 62, 59, 66 and 58 from four different batsmen in the four matches played the boys did exactly what was expected of them. Having said that, Leinster’s first Taunton Festival victory was a team performance and a great tribute to all the hard work done in North County over the winter, the two coaches present and the sterling efforts of the boys over the course of the four days. Fortunately, many of the boys’ (proud) parents were on hand to witness their great achievement.

Leinster Under 13’s 2012

Conor O’Gorman (Leinster CC) Capt.
Ian Anders (Phoenix)
Dean Brogan (Rush)
Mark Donegan (The Hills)
JJ Garth (Pembroke)
Jamie Grassi (North County)
Stephen Gray (North Kildare)
Craig Kennedy (Terenure)
Josh Murphy (Rush)
Sam Murphy (Pembroke)
Tom Murray (Leinster)
David O’Connor (Terenure)
Harry Opperman (Clontarf)
Harry Tector (YMCA)

Michael O’Gorman
The winning Leinster squad with former Somerset and England fast bowler Andy Caddick.
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