On a beautiful summer's evening Malahide came to visit Terenure and we played a thrilling encounter with the Walnuts securing a second last ball win of the summer.

Malahide, of course, play in the famous cricket club nestled in the heart of Malahide Castle.

Speaking of the castle, did you know that tales of ghosts and spirits within its walls date back as far as the castle's 800-year history?

One of the most famous ghostly residents is court jester Puck. Unlucky in love, Puck continues to nurse a broken heart in the turret where he used to live.

Legends also speak of a haunting apparition known as the lady in white, a ghostly female figure who roams the castle's rooms and corridors.

Thankfully, Terenure College remains blissfully free from any supernatural inhabitants although some of the cricket was supernatural on the evening itself.

Batting first, Malahide scored a total of 95 as  the Walnuts bowled and fielded majestically. Jan opened the bowling and conceded very little with his accurate off stump line. Soon wickets started to tumble as Jan himself, Gerry and Liam all took scalps. Man of the match Phillip conceded just 6 runs, while Eddie and Mark also finished with very impressive figures. Gerry took another superlative catch at deep square leg (that's 4 internationalesque catches in 2 games) while Frank and Damian conceded very little in the final two overs.

Malahide's total score was built upon the resilient performances of Brian, Paul, and Danny, all of whom displayed great technical precision and maturity in their batting, contributing valuable 20s 

In reply the Walnuts started brightly with Man of the Match Damian striking a fluent 20. Liam hit a solid 10 but Malahide fought back with stump to stump bowling as the Walnuts middle order collapsed. Paul, Damian and Chris deserve special mention as the three Malahide bowlers were impressive throughout.

Colin and Eddie steadied the ship. Colin hit a career best 23 and both batsmen brought the Walnuts within 10 runs of victory.

There was more drama in store as the Malahide bowlers fought back however, it was Sean who seized the moment, smashing a boundary past deep mid-wicket, alleviating the mounting pressure. Then, with nerves of steel, Mark coolly struck the winning run off the last ball, finally putting an end to the Walnuts' five-game losing streak and securing a long-awaited home victory for our team.

Afterwards both sides retired to the club and were very appreciative to Sean and Eddie for stepping up and providing the much needed sandwiches.

Now we look forward to our game next year in Malahide. Will we see Puck or the Lady in White?

Probably not.

But hopefully we will see victory and our more importantly our good friends from Malahide.

Malahide @ Terenure College July 7th 2023

Walnuts Win under the Tree.