A special evening celebrating 100 years since the foundation of the Fingal Cricket League will take place this month, bringing together generations of players, officials and supporters to remember a competition that played a vital role in keeping cricket alive in the area.

Bonds Glen have added considerable experience to their squad ahead of their return to the top flight after securing the signing of all-rounder Rachit Gaur for the 2027 season.

North Down’s sixth-place Premiership finish will surely go down as one of the more disappointing outcomes of the 2026 NCU season.

Bready’s early-season form may have caused a few anxious glances around Magheramason, but the senior side found their feet in good time to pull comfortably clear of the relegation dogfight and finish the campaign on a much firmer footing.

Merrion’s 2026 season will inevitably be remembered as one of what might have been after the Anglesea Road side saw their Leinster Premiership title hopes disappear on the final day.

Malahide ended the 2026 Leinster Premiership season in fourth place after another competitive campaign in which they showed enough quality to trouble the leading sides without quite managing to sustain a title challenge.

Lisburn can look back on 2026 as a season of both achievement and frustration, with a fourth-place Premiership finish accompanied by T20 Cup silverware but also the nagging feeling that considerably more was within their grasp.

Coleraine’s 2026 season may not have brought silverware, but there was no shortage of drama as the Bannsiders battled through availability issues, reached the Senior Cup final and ultimately preserved their Premiership status in a relegation play-off.

Leinster showed enough in the opening stages of the season to suggest they could mount a serious challenge, but ultimately they were unable to keep pace with the Pembroke juggernaut as injuries and availability issues took their toll.

Muckamore will look back on 2026 with a mixture of satisfaction and frustration after a season which, for a time, promised considerably more than their eventual fifth-place Premiership finish.

Brigade’s defence of their North West Premiership crown ultimately proved a season of frustration, near misses and the occasional feeling that the cricketing gods simply were not on their side.

Bernard O'Mara's new book about cricket in the county of Carlow is being published next month - an historic catalogue of games that were played in Carlow from the early 19th century up until today.

Cork County achieved their main objective with room to spare in 2026, comfortably ensuring their place once again in the top flight of Leinster cricket.

Laurelvale’s first season back in the NCU top flight for 54 years ended with them at the foot of the table, but their final position told only part of the story.

St Johnston’s return to the North West Premiership proved a difficult one, with the Donegal side finishing bottom of the table and making an immediate return to the Championship.

Clontarf’s 150th anniversary season ultimately proved a disappointing one on the field, with the Castle Avenue side unable to produce the sustained challenge they would have hoped for in such a significant year.

Fox Lodge can look back on their return to the North West Premiership with considerable pride after establishing themselves as far more than mere survivors.

Instonians entered 2026 hoping to build on the success of the previous summer, but a campaign marked by internal struggles and inconsistency ultimately left them with more questions than answers.

Civil Service’s first season in the Premiership ultimately ended in disappointment as they were relegated after being pipped at the post by Rush, but there were enough encouraging individual performances to suggest their stay outside the top flight need not be a lengthy one.

Strabane proved one of the surprise packages of the North West Premiership season, the Red Caps hitting the ground running and using those early victories to remove any real fear of being dragged into a relegation battle.

This was the year when potential became achievement for CSNI. For several seasons there had been a feeling that the talent was there, that the younger players were close to turning promise into something tangible. In 2026 they did exactly that.

BREADY Thirds brought the curtain down on the North West season in style as they upset favourites Sion Mills by eight wickets to lift the League Two Cup at Magheramason.

Cliftonville Academy may have finished seventh in the Premiership, but a season without the threat of relegation allowed the north Belfast club to take a longer-term view and give valuable senior exposure to a number of their younger players.

Bangor is celebrating one of the most successful youth seasons in its history after a summer that delivered silverware, representative honours and continued growth across its thriving junior section.

A Munster Over-50s XI took to the field for the first time in a landmark occasion for veterans cricket in the province, producing an entertaining contest against Old Ignatians in Cork.

Munster cricket will enter one of the fastest-growing areas of the game next week when the province stages its first ever Over-50s fixture at The Mardyke.

Cork County CC are running a raffle to fund much-needed roof repairs at The Mardyke.

Harlequins, Limerick, Galway and Kerry reach Munster Senior Cup last four.

Two wins in two days for MCC over hosts Munster Heat as they followed up Saturday’s success with a 38-run victory in Cork

MCC got their Southern Ireland week tour off to a perfect start with a commanding 136-run victory over Munster Heat at The Mardyke after a dominant all-round display.

The University of Galway second XI recorded a whopping 371-run win over Athlone at The Lydican on Sunday.

There was sad news over the weekend following the death of Noel Giltinan.

IRELAND Under-19s will begin the next stage of their development towards the 2028 World Cup with a four-match tour of South Africa next week.

Ed Joyce has set himself the task of making Ireland’s line-up more consistent in the build-up to next year’s crucial World Cup qualifiers, after he was announced as the new High Performance Batting coach.

Ed Joyce is back in Irish cricket after being appointed Cricket Ireland’s new High Performance Batting Coach, with a remit covering the senior men’s squad and the male talent pathway.

Ireland wicket-keeper Amy Hunter has been rewarded for an impressive ODI series against England by moving up to a career-best 11th position in the ICC Women’s ODI Batting Rankings.

England duly completed a clean sweep of their three-match ODI series against England in sunny Worcester and left Ireland still waiting for their first win in the World Cup qualifying.

Arlene Kelly called time on her international career in Worcester yesterday — bowing out as Ireland suffered a third successive defeat in their World Cup qualifying series against England.

It was back to the drawing board for Gaby Lewis at Derby as her Ireland side were bowled out for 165 and lost the second one-day international to England by six wickets, and with it the three-match series. 

It was women against girls at the County Ground in Derby as England swept to a second victory in their ODI series against Ireland.

Ireland Under-19s produced a determined final-day batting display to secure a draw against Yorkshire Under-18s at Sheriff Hutton after being set a daunting 332 for victory.

If new head coach Gary Wilson was under any illusion as to how tough it will be for Ireland to qualify for next year’s one-day international World Cup a 4-0 drubbing by Afghanistan over the past 10 days will have brought the size of the task into sharp focus.

The widening gulf between traditional rivals Ireland and Afghanistan was laid bare at Stormont as the tourists completed a comprehensive series clean sweep with their 10th consecutive ODI victory over the Irish.

Scotland levelled the Under-15 Celtic Cup series with a five-wicket victory over Ireland at Upritchard Park, Bangor, ensuring that the honours were shared after a week of fluctuating fortunes.

Andy Balbirnie scored his 10th one-day international century for Ireland in Belfast but the gap between the two sides was again evident as Afghanistan completed a 42-run victory to take a winning 3-0 lead in the best-of-four series.

Ireland Under-15s made the perfect start to their Celtic Cup series against old rivals Scotland with a thumping 168-run victory at Upritchard Park in Bangor.

Ireland Under-19 Women held their nerve to defeat Scotland by six runs in a thrilling Celtic Cup decider, sealing the five-match series 3-2.

Ireland Over-40s will bring the curtain down on a successful season with a mouth-watering clash against England at Leinster Cricket Club, Rathmines, on Thursday.

Brian MacNeice is preparing to complete a very different kind of century at the Home of Cricket as he takes on 100 laps of Lord’s Cricket Ground in a single day to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Society.

Her father Peter was the driving force behind her cricketing journey, the constant source of encouragement who helped turn a talented youngster into one of Ireland’s leading internationals. His death from cardiac disease in May 2025 left an enormous void.

Cricket clubs across Northern Ireland could knock their financial worries for six with a £1,000 cash prize this summer thanks to a campaign by KP Snacks (NI) to support its long-standing partnership with The Hundred.