Balbriggan take charge of Group A with two big wins over North County, while The Hills and Dublin University share the spoils.
North County lost to Balbriggan by 9 wickets
North County 79 (17.5 overs; Ashish Jain 31; Sebastian De Oliveria 5-16, Jordan Hollard 2-17, Dylan Lues 2-20)
Balbriggan 80/1 (10/3 overs; Ciaran Gray 37*, Cameron Rowe 27*)
Balbriggan earned the bragging rights with a 9 wicket thumping of North County at Balrothery. Sebastian De Oliveria claimed a five-wicket haul, and with Dylan Lues and Jordan Hollard each taking two scalps apiece, the home side were dismissed for just 79 - Ashish Jain making 39. The reply was a formality, as Ciaran Gray (37*) and Cameron Rowe (27*) shared a second wicket stand of 63 in a bloodless win.
North County lost to Balbriggan by 8 wickets
North County 137/7 (20 overs; Alan Mathew 38, John Devane 38; Sam Willemse 3-25, Dylan Lues 2-19)
Balbriggan 138/2 (18.1 overs; Ghanim Dara 68*, Cameron Rowe 30)
Balbriggan won the latest Fingal derby with an impressive chase to beat North County by 8 wickets at Inch. The home side lost their big hitter Suliman Safi second ball to Dylan Lues (2-19), and with Sam Willemse taking 3 for 25, it was down to 38 apiece from John Devane and Alan Mathew to get them up to 137 for 7 in a stand of 76 for the fourth wicket. The reply was all about the opening stand of 94 in just 9.4 overs that all but settled the game. Cameron Rowe made a run-a-ball 30, but it was an unbeaten 68 from 59 deliveries (9 fours, 1 six) from Ghanim Dara that was the match winning knock.
Dublin University lost to The Hills by 6 wickets
Dublin University 116/6 (20 overs; David Vincent 39; Brandon Kruger 2-26, Sean McNicholl 2-27)
The Hills 118/4 (18.4 overs; Andrew Kavanagh 43*, Brandon Kruger 28)
The Hills gained revenge for their earlier defeat with a six wicket win over Dublin University. The students made the exact same total of 116 - David Vincent hitting three boundaries in a top score of 39. There were two wickets for Sean McNicholl and Brandon Kruger, and it was the South African who got the start off to a decent start with 28. Andrew Kavanagh ensured a happy trip back to Fingal with an unbeaten 43 to seal the points with eight balls to spare.
Dublin University beat The Hills by 20 runs
Dublin University 116/7 (20 overs; Rory Betley 24, Jack Atkinson 22; Tomas Rooney-Murphy 2-16, Brandon Kruger 2-23)
The Hills 96 (19.3 overs' Brandon Kruger 24; Mikey O'Reilly 3-16, Yash Balasubramanium 2-20)
Dublin University beat The Hills in one of the closer matches of the day. The students Rory Betley didn't use up much of his daily allocation of steps hitting six fours in a top-score of 24 as Trinity posted 116 for 7. There were late runs too for Jack Atkinson (22) who added 41 for the 7th wicket with David Vincent (17*), and those late runs were to prove vital. Brandon Kruger made 24 in the chase, but a hat-trick for MIkey O'Reilly finished off the game as scoreboard pressure told - they lost five wickets for just 9 runs at the back end. Yash Balasubramanium picked up two which helped restricted the visitors to just 96 and put a dent in their qualification hopes.