We assembled in our ground at 11:30am for the short journey to Balrothery. All of the players were in good spirits and quietly confident. They were playing against Phoenix II who were in fine form having won their last three matches but Balbriggan were also coming into this final on the back of a very convincing win the previous Sunday.

We packed up the gear and headed down (or is it up?) the road to Balrothery in a convoy. We arrived at the ground some two minutes later to see Tommy Mooney and Joe Murphy putting the finishing touches to the ground. It looked immaculate. Like a snooker table or golf green. They had done an incredible job. The outfield was going to be very fast and the wicket looked like a batters paradise

Both teams arrived within minutes of each other and changed into their warm up gear. They all took to the field and began their warm up routines. The umpires for the day were Nigel Parnell and David Walsh and they were out on the square chatting while photo shoots were going on all around the ground.

They called both skippers to the centre to take the toss and it was the Balbriggan captain Paddy Martin who wins the first round by winning the toss. “We’ll have a bat" he says to the umpires and Phoenix captain C Cavanagh. And part one of the road to victory is in the bag.

The official start time is 1: 00pm but that would not be possible as the first of several showers that day had the ground staff and players running for the covers. The start was delayed by 15 minutes and at exactly 1:15 Barry Archer faced the first ball of the 2010 Senior II cup final with his batting partner for every game this season, Glenn Russell at the non-strikers end. O Khan was the Phoenix opening bowler and his first ball was a dot. Black clouds were billowing towards us all the while and by the time the next ball was bowled the rain had started. That second ball was to be the first of 30 wides the Phoenix bowlers would gift Balbriggan and it was also time to run for the covers and the players headed for the dressing rooms.

The rain cleared and approximately 30 minutes later the match restarted. 3 runs, all extras come off the first over. The second over which is bowled by K Sheikh takes the score on to 11 without loss and the score would clip along at just better than four  an over for the next 10 overs with the 50 partnership arriving off the last ball of the 11^th over. A great start for Balbriggan. So much so that Phoenix are forced to make a double bowling change in the 8^th and 9^th overs, bringing on M Ahmed and U Anilkumar. However they too were having little success and the scoreboard was ticking over nicely as far as Balbriggan was concerned. And after 16 overs the score had moved on to 68 without loss.

However, the first ball of the 17^th over saw the demise of Archer when he nicked one outside off stump from the bowling of Anilkumar which keeper J Wardell gratefully accepts. 68 for 1 and Phoenix celebrate. Archer had contributed a very useful 36 runs from the 46 balls he faced and 68 for the first wicket was a decent start. But that just bought the inform Gavin Morgan to the crease. For the first couple of overs Gavin gets his eye in and works his way into what would be a sublime innings. His first scoring shot is a huge six, the first of what would be 7 beautiful sixes. He was being partnered superbly by Glenn Russell who was playing the anchor roll but still scoring at a very good rate. At drinks and 25 0vers Russell had moved onto 30 runs and the innings score was 101. But then the heavens opened and the umpires decided that tea should be taken early to give the rain a chance to blow over and the pitch a chance to dry out.

After tea Morgan and Russell kicked on, and the 50 partnership was achieved in the 28^th over and after 30 overs Balbriggan had reached 125 for the loss of just one wicket and the general consensus all around me was that 300 runs would be a doddle and this partnership could indeed go the full way. Both batsmen were in great nick with Morgan looking particularly dangerous. However, we all know cricket can be a strange game and 1 wicket down can become several wickets down in the blink of an eye. And just when we thought we were cruising, Russell goes for a quick single but the ball is picked up by D Ford at mid on and he throws at the stumps and smashes them with Russell well short of his ground. So, Balbriggan lose their second wicket. 127 for two and Phoenix are cock-a-hoop.  In comes Hugh Cashell but it’s Morgan who faces the last ball of the over and he duly smashes it for one of the 11 fours he would smash in his innings.

Cashell takes guard and faces bowler T Ali who had replaced Ahmed, while Anilkumar is replaced by T Anders. The ball is bowled. It raps Cashell on the pad, a huge appeal from all eleven Phoenix players and their supporters. The umpire pauses and considers all the elements of the delivery and after what seemed an eternity he raises his finger to the heavens, “out” LBW for nought.

Enter Roger Kear to a centre where he always gets runs. Roger is the very man to steady a slightly wobbly ship and with Gavin Morgan as his batting partner we were in for a treat. Now there have been some famous partners throughout history, and some that spring to mind are: Romeo and Juliet, Smith and Wesson, Clinton and Lewinsky, Burke and Hare, but as far as Balbriggan CC is concerned Morgan and Kear are at the top of the partnership list and today would prove just that. By the time Kear joined Morgan at the crease in the 32^nd over, Morgan had already accrued 39 runs but the fireworks were about to begin.

Kear blocks the first two balls he faces and then he hits a beauty beyond mid-on for four. The demolition partnership had just begun. The bowlers were on a hiding to nothing and no matter who or what they tried they could not rattle this pair. Between them they hit 10 sixes with both players launching the ball out onto the road and into the carpark and Morgan hitting the sweetest 6 one could hope to see over the scoreboard and into the next county.

Gavin Morgan reached his 50 in the 38^th over, having faced just 49 balls and at the end of that over Balbriggan had reached 164 for 3 and looked well in control of the match.

At the end of the 40^th over the score had reached 182 for three and the 50 partnership was achieved off 59 balls. So with 10 overs to face it was time to push on and put the game beyond Phoenix. 48 runs came off the next 6 overs and at 220 for 3 off 46 we felt 280 was achievable and the Morgan would hit his maiden century for Balbriggan and Kear his umpteenth 50.

In the next over the 100 partnership was reached off 101 balls in 47 minutes and by the end of the 48^th over the score was 244 for 3 and both batsmen on the brink of their personal milestones. The 49^th over see Kear get his 50 off the 4^th ball from 62 balls faced and that brings Morgan on strike needing 4 to reach that magic 100. Was he going to nudge around for one's and two's to reach it? Not on your life, ball number 5 is launched out of the ground for 6 and the whole ground erupts (except for the Phoenix supporters) and Morgan swings his bat over his head in celebration. What a way to bring up your ton and having faced just 83 balls. Boys own stuff from the Morgan household, as just two days earlier his younger brother Eoin also hit a six to bring up his century in some little, unimportant match on that island just off the east coast of Ireland.

One over to go and you’d think that the distractions of the 50 and 100 marks being reached in the previous over would be enough? The score after that 49^th over was 259 for three and it was time to fill their boots. One run off the first ball to Kear is followed by a four and another massive 6 from Morgan, then a single from Morgan and another single from Kear. So at 272 for 3 with one ball remaining we would fall short of the 280 mark but the final ball is launched by Morgan for his 7^th six but it went so far that it deserved an eight. 278 for three and the job is more than half done. Roger Kear finished on 52 not out from the 62 balls faced and Gavin Morgan finished on 119 not out having faced just 88 balls and batting for 88 minutes. Their partnership of 147 from 123 balls came in just 58 minutes with Kear hitting 52 and Morgan 80. Now that's cricket at it's best.

Bowling figures for Phoenix:

O Khan: 9-0-63-0

K Sheikh: 9-1-38-0

M Ahmed: 9-0-55-0

U Anilkumar: 8-2-33-1

T Ali: 8-0-38-1

T Anders: 8-0-22-0

A Nazir: 5-1-24-0

The crowd (most of whom were supporting Balbriggan) were buzzing. Most of the team from our previous final in 1989 were in attendance albeit with a lot less hair than they had all those years ago. And the general consensus amongst them was that Phoenix would struggle against probably one of, if not the best bowling attack in Division III. How right they would prove to be.

Phoenix opened with M Ahmed facing and J Faulds at the non strikers end. Duane Harper was handed the shiny new cherry by Skipper Paddy Martin and the demolition was about to begin.

One run off the first over and Ahmed is off the mark. He then faces Balbriggan number two bowler Sarfraz Anwar and gets a run off that over too. And how he wishes he hadn’t because that just brought him back to face Harper. And having hit two fours and a two off the first 4 balls he cuts one to Morgan in the gully and he’s gone, “out” caught for 12 and Phoenix are already in trouble at 13 for 1 off 3.

D Ford is next in and indeed next out. He becomes the first of Anwar’s four victims when he nicks one to keeper Archer for the first of his 4 catches in the match. 15 for two off 4 and smiles all round.

Batsman/wicket keeper J Wardell walks to the centre a lot sooner than he’d hoped. But just one overs later he would watch his batting partner Faulds also edge one to Archer off Anwar and Phoenix are three down for just 15 runs off 6.

O Khan ambles to the centre wishing the previous few minutes were part of a dream but it was a nightmare he was watching and he soon became part of that same nightmare when he was clean bowled by Harper for one having faced just 4 balls. 17 for four and the match is all but ended as a contest.

Wardell is joined by new batsman A Nazir and for the next 4 overs they steady the innings a bit. However, in the 12^th over Anwar finds the edge of Nazir’s bat and Archer duly accepts. “Out” caught for just 5 having faced 16 balls. 35 for 5 and the celebrations are beginning in the lounge behind us. Well maybe the Dubs who are giving Tyrone a bit of a football lesson have more to do with the shouting from the lounge than the cricket has?

 Duane Harper is replaced in the attack by skipper Paddy Martin for over 13 and C Cavanagh replaces Nazir at the crease. Wardell has settled in and is batting well but he needs someone to form a partnership with. Maybe Lewinsky, or Wesson or Hare or Juliet was not an option but skipper Cavanagh might just be the man? Nay, it was not to be. He hung around for 4 overs but like his colleagues before him he was soon back in the dressing room when brilliantly caught by Paddy Martin off the inform Anwar. 40 for 6 and a real thumping was now a distinct possibility.

T Anders joins Wardell and they have a little chat and form a plan and whatever they said seemed to work. Anders looks in good shape and nestles down to help the inform Wardell. In the meantime Roger Kear is brought into the Balbriggan attack . And whether it was because Phoenix were now facing the spin twins of Balbriggan or because they needed to put some runs on the board that they lost their next wicket I don’t know. But from starting to look like they could frustrate Balbriggan and keep us away from the champagne for a wee bit longer they went back into self destruct mode. Having moved the score on from 40 for 6 to 59 for 6 Anders decides to leave one from Paddy (the turn king) Martin and the crash of timber can be heard just three miles up the road in Sunny Balbriggan. 59 for 7 in the 23^rd over.

Phoenix send in T Ali, but not even Mohamed Ali could punch them out of this heavy defeat. He faces 13 balls before being caught by keeper Archer off the bowling of Kear with the score having reached just 66 for the loss of 8 wickets. Get the cup engraver ready someone suggests. It’s not the bleedin British Open someone else answers. Anyway, there’s too many letters in Balbriggan Cricket Club to fit on it another joker proclaims. Nonetheless, everyone at the game I’m sure, including the Phoenix contingent knew that this match was now at the closing stages and Balbriggan’s long awaited Senior II Cup triumph was just minutes away.

K Sheikh joined Wardell to try and see out the remaining 24 overs but in trying to take the strike and move the score on Wardell is brilliantly caught by skipper Martin off the bowling of his spin twin Roger Kear. Out for 35 having batted superbly for 84 minutes and facing 75 balls. But in truth, Wardell was the only Phoenix batsman to offer any resistance. 79 for 9 in the 30^th over became 79 all out off the last ball of the 34^th over when number 11 bat Anilkumar was caught and bowled by Kear. Let the celebrations begin. A victory by 199 runs, the stuff dreams are made of.

All in all a quite brilliant display by Balbriggan with both bat and Ball with Gavin Morgan’s innings off 119 not out being a joy to behold and deserving of the Man of the Match award.

Bowling figures for Balbriggan.

D Harper: 6-1-23-2

S Anwar: 10-2-21-4

P Martin 8-1-13-1

R Kear: 7-2-17-3

A Harper: 3-2-5-0

I won’t mention the celebrations that night and into the early hours of the next morning so as not to embarrass some of the lads and indeed the WAGS. But suffice to say for most of them this was a long weekend where the Sunday mysteriously disappeared.