Cup final action tees off busy north west cricket programme

There's no shortage of quality domestic cricket lined up over the next few days headlined by the Sperrin Springs Cup final between Strabane and Fox Lodge on Friday and the Women's All-Ireland T20 semi-final between Waringstown and Fox Lodge on Sunday, with ten Long's SuperValu league games sandwiched in between.

The Red Caps have been in terrific form this summer despite their heavy defeat at home to Glendermott last weekend although they've only met the Foxes once so far this season so there isn't much to go on between them. What we do know of course is that both side boast destructive overseas professionals who were both in the top four batters and top four bowlers in the latest divisional stats round up.

Nasir Nawar and Gayan Maneeshan were split by only a handful of runs and a couple of wickets and although this is far from a shoot-out between the pair, whichever of them fares best might go some way to deciding the outcome on Friday evening.

Interestingly, Strabane's John Mooney was top of the bowling of returns with Fox Lodge's Adam Walker in second, so there is no shortage of ammunition on both sides going into the decider.

Strabane are probably slight favourites overall, but they dug themselves into a hole last weekend and struggled to get out after managing just 132 runs in 40 overs against Glendermott. That sort of rate certainly won't get the job done here and the visitors have a lot of boundary hitters in the order who can take advantage if it does happen.

Sunday's Women's semi-final is due reward for the Foxies' Women's team who will be presented with the senior league trophy after Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final. Hannah McLaughlin's team added the league title to their senior cup and T20 crowns from earlier when they beat Newbuildings in their final league game of the season on Monday night.

Waringstown represent a different level of challenge, however in Mollie Devine, Sarah Black, Lucy Neely and others, the home side have proven match-winners who won't mind this challenge at all.

In between, the two senior divisional title races are getting really interesting and it's hard to look past Newbuildings' home game against Eglinton on Saturday as the pick of the bunch.

The villagers are chasing an incredible eighth straight league win- a run of form that has taken them from bottom of the table after Week 2, to second place and breathing down the necks of leaders Donemana. The home side celebrated hard after winning the cup a fortnight ago and were steeped in it last Sunday when the rain intervened with them 23-6 at fellow title-chasers Brigade.

A home win here puts Newbuildings right back in it, although they clearly looked to be missing their settled overseas man Samarth Seth last week and will be hoping their new man finds his feet pretty quickly if they are to complete the double.

Delighted

Donemana host struggling Coleraine and Gary McClintock's side will be delighted to have Andy McBrine back in tow as they look for a grandstand finish that could bring a first senior title in seven years.

The leaders then play Eglinton on Sunday so it could well be a decisive weekend for both sides as the race for honours heads towards its conclusion.

Brigade are far from out of it either and Andy Britton's team knows that nothing other than full points will do from a trip to Killyclooney on Saturday.

Bready have a double-header weekend as well, albeit a title challenge is beyond Ian Young's side at this stage. They host Ardmore on Saturday- the current champions not having managed to come anywhere close to last year's heights this time around.

Bready then go to Newbuildings on Sunday in what could be another game with plenty at stake for the cup winners.

In the Championship, Strabane's busy weekend continues on Saturday with a very winnable home game against The Nedd, and depending on results elsewhere, the Red Caps could then be going to Ballyspallen on Sunday setting up a title decider for themselves the following weekend.

Glendermott can maintain they're good finish to the season as they head to the Roe Valley on Saturday with Fox Lodge looking to keep their hat in the ring as they visit Bonds Glen.

The weekend's fixtures in full

Friday - Sperrin Springs T20 Cup final (5.30 pm) - Strabane v Fox Lodge

Saturday - Long's SuperValu Premiership - Section 1 (12 noon) - Newbuildings v Eglinton; Donemana v Coleraine; Bready v Ardmore; Killyclooney v Brigade. Section 2 - Strabane v The Nedd; Bonds Glen v Fox Lodge; Ballyspallen v Glendermott

Sunday - All-Ireland Women's T20 semi-final (2 pm) - Fox Lodge v Waringstown. Long's SuperValu Premiership Section 1 (12 noon) - Newbuildings v Bready - Donemana v Eglinton. Section 2 - Ballyspallen v Strabane