The biggest weekend in Irish club cricket is upon us with the Finals of the Evara Irish Senior Cup and Evara National Cup competitions to be held at Clontarf across the next two days.<\/p>\n
The host venue this year is Clontarf Cricket Club which is celebrating its 150th anniversary.<\/p>\n
Connor D\u2019Arcy, President of Clontarf CC, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very special for us to welcome Cricket Ireland here to host both finals. We\u2019re 150 years old as a club, but since it started in 1982 we\u2019ve only won the Irish Senior Cup once. So, we know what a special day it is for the clubs that are competing for the Irish Senior Cup and the National Cup \u2013 and it\u2019s really special for us to be able to host them on their big day.\u201d<\/p>\n
EVARA IRISH SENIOR CUPWhen: Sunday 16 August 2026 (start 12pm)Where: Clontarf Cricket Club, DublinEntry: FreeTeams: Pembroke v CSNIWatch: Livestream available on Cricket Ireland Live on Youtube<\/p>\n
The Evara Irish Senior Cup is the premiere club cricket competition in Ireland, bringing together the top club sides across Ireland to compete in a 50-over a side knockout competition.<\/p>\n
First played in 1982, the competition today sees teams compete for the \u2018Bob Kerr Trophy\u2019 and 21 different clubs have won over the competitions\u2019 43-year history.<\/p>\n
The Dublin-based Pembroke Cricket Club, despite having a history of developing a stream of top international talent, has only won the Cup once in its history (2019), however, are hot favourites to claim their second title this year.<\/p>\n
The Belfast-based CSNI have had a very strong campaign in 2026, although the club have never won the Cup in their current structure (North of Ireland CC won the Cup in 1982 before the club merged with Civil Service CC to become CSNI).<\/p>\n
Jack Tector, from Pembroke, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cLike every game we\u2019ve played, we\u2019ve had great supporters that have come up and got behind us for each round, so you can see how much it means to them. There obviously will be nerves around. But I think if trying to keep everyone relaxed, enjoy the day, we\u2019ve been playing very good cricket throughout the summer. So just trying to bring that momentum into the final and hopefully we can produce our best cricket on the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve actually been without the Irish players for a number of the rounds, so it\u2019s been particularly satisfying. To see. guys step up at different times. So, we\u2019ve probably used near on 20 players throughout the campaign. So, everyone\u2019s had to step up at different times.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a massive day for everyone at the club. Already I\u2019ve had messages from people who are going to be flying back, club members, even one from Australia who\u2019s booked his flights for the game so you can see what it means to everyone. So hopefully as a playing group we can give our best performance and lift the cup on the day for everyone involved at Pembroke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stuart Thompson, from CSNI, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not doing anything special in terms of training-wise. We\u2019re not trying to change anything we would normally do in the approach to a game. If we stick to our routines, it should feel a lot more normal. It\u2019s a young squad. We\u2019ve got a lot of young players that have come up through our ranks, which is something that we\u2019re very proud of. And there\u2019s a few old heads in there as well, so we\u2019ve got the very edge of the spectrum in both. The dynamic\u2019s good in the change room, a lot of fun in there and a bit of wisdom from the old guys.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club have won trophies in the past and it\u2019s been maybe five or six seasons since we\u2019ve delivered so to hopefully deliver an Irish Cup and a Challenge Cup all in one season would be huge. It turns an already very good season into a memorable one.\u201d<\/p>\n
EVARA NATIONAL CUPWhen: Saturday 15 August 2026 (start 12pm)Where: Clontarf Cricket Club, DublinEntry: FreeTeams: Glendermott v BallyspallenWatch: Livestream available on Cricket Ireland Live on Youtube<\/p>\n
The Evara National Cup is the peak club cricket competition amongst second-tier clubs in Ireland, where teams compete in a 40-over a side knockout competition. First played in 2012, the competition seen eight different clubs lift the cup. Neither side has lifted this trophy before.<\/p>\n
Stuart Kennedy, from Ballyspallen, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe final is massive for the club, as far as I\u2019m aware, it\u2019s the first final in the club\u2019s history. I\u2019ve played my whole life at Ballyspallen \u2013 everyone, bar maybe one or two players from the squad, grew up there and played there for their whole lives, it\u2019s a real close bond in the team. One person\u2019s heads go down, we know to back them up and everything, so it\u2019s a real, real family team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege, really. I never thought I\u2019d be asked to be captain of the Club. Circumstances changed in the middle of the season. I said, yeah, I\u2019ll have to take it on. To make it to the final with the same team I grew up with playing my whole life, it\u2019s massive for me, really. It\u2019s a huge honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we know Glendermott is not going to be an easy team to play. We will give it our all and play against them as best we can. The players constantly put in the dedication, showing up to trade and putting in the work, showing up on final day and giving it all, I can\u2019t. And a massive thanks to supporters showing up every day and the atmosphere they create.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trevor Britton, from Glendermott, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so proud, the captain of Glendermott in its 100th year. There\u2019s two North West teams in the final, which is massive for the Union. This will be the first time the Cup will be held bt a North West club.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of the year, we said the National Cup Final was one of the ones we would push for, and the players stuck together. We travelled far, we had to go to Nenagh first round. It was a good team bonding weekend, and it was a tight game, but we pulled through.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in good form at the minute. We\u2019ve won six on the bounce there. We\u2019re top of league and Ballyspallen second, so it\u2019s going to be a good contest. It\u2019s two good teams. It should be a good final.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re younger you want to play an Irish Cup final \u2013 now, this is the moment. There\u2019s people here who\u2019s never got an Irish Cup final and that\u2019s what I\u2019m telling my boys. Enjoy the moment. Don\u2019t let it pass you by.\u201d<\/p>\n
PREVIOUS WINNERS<\/p>\n
Irish Senior Cup winners:<\/p>\n
Waringstown (6)North County (5)Limavady (3)Lurgan (3)North Down (3)Brigade (2)Downpatrick (2)Leinster (2)Merrion (2)Phoenix (2)The Hills (2)CIYMS (1)Clontarf (1)Donemana (1)Malahide (1)North of Ireland (1)Pembroke (1)Railway Union (1)St Johnston (1)Strabane (1)Balbriggan (1)<\/p>\n
National Cup winners:<\/p>\n
Rush (4)Malahide (2)Carrickfergus (1)Derriaghy (1)Muckamore (1)North County (1)Railway Union (1)County Galway (1)SPONSORS<\/p>\n
As Ireland\u2019s largest private homebuilder, Evara has already delivered more than 3,000 homes in the Greater Dublin Area and is nearing its target annual output of 1,500 homes. Backed by global investment firm TPG, the company is investing \u20ac2 billion to deliver more than 7,000 new homes over the next five years.<\/p>\n
In 2026, Cricket Ireland and Evara, Ireland\u2019s largest privately-owned homebuilder, announced a new multi-year sponsorship deal that will support women\u2019s cricket and the all-Ireland Irish club cup competitions \u2013 the Evara Irish Senior Cup, Evara National Cup, and the Evara All-Ireland T20 Club Cup (men\u2019s and women\u2019s versions).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest weekend in Irish club cricket is upon us with the Finals of the Evara Irish Senior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,250947,250948,43],"class_list":["post-593713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-senior-cup","tag-national-cup","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}