SEASON CURTAIN-RAISER (SATURDAY 11.4.2026)

This first Open fixtures of the 2026 season are scheduled to take place on Saturday (11th April).

Six teams will have the honour of braving the elements and taking the field after what has been one of the wettest pre-season periods on record. There are two league games and one cup fixture scheduled to take place in Marlay Park, Poppintree Park and The Vineyard – short previews below:

SANDYFORD 3 vs TYRRELSTOWN 4

Sandyford 3 had a strong showing in 2025 winning 8 of their 12 games in the league allowing them to gain promotion to Division 15 for 2026.

After winning 2 of their first 4 games, the men from Marlay Park ‘caught fire’ putting together an unbeaten run of games before falling foul of Mullingar 3 at the end of July. This period also coincided with a strong T20 cup run that saw them make it to the semi final stage.

Their late July loss didn’t derail things however, as they went on to win 3 of their last 4 games ensuring a second-placed finish in the league and promotion for 2026.

Tyrrelstown 4 travel to Marlay Park on the back of a mixed 2025 season when they lacked consistency. Whilst they managed to secure 6 wins from their 12 league games, they were never in a position to compete for the league title. That said, they finished the 2025 season with a solid win over North County 5s based on some useful performances with the bat from Deepak Tripathi (32 from 39) and 20s from both Duane Dell'Oca & Jobin Boban. This was backed up by tight bowling and fielding with no less than 9 bowlers used, Deshdeep Saxena was the pick of the bowlers that day with 2/18.

If the weather holds, this is likely to be a tight contest as both sides look to start their 2026 campaign with a win.

FINGLAS 3 vs NORTH COUNTY 5

Finglas come into this season looking for a third promotion in 3 years having been promoted from Division 18 in 2024 and a stellar 2025 saw them promoted once more to Division 16.

Rahul Gopinath was undoubtedly the star of the show in 2025 for his side - he managed two remarkable centuries along with 3 other 50+ scores, an unbelievable campaign to remember. Finglas will be hopeful that he can repeat this form from the outset of the new season in Poppintree Park.

Unfortunately North County 5 have had the opposite experience in recent times having been relegated twice in 2 seasons heading into 2026. They endured an incredibly tough 2025 season, going winless across all competitions until mid-July last.

They also don’t have fond memories of recent encounters with Finglas having failed to register a win in their last 3 meetings. That said, this is a new season and the team from Fingal will doubtless be looking to start strongly in Poppintree Park on Saturday.

Finglas will host North County at Poppintree Park

THE HILLS 4 vs DLR COUNTY 2

The final game of the first Saturday sees the first T20 action of 2026. Last season saw The Hills return to this competition for the first time since the covid 19 affected 2020 season. It was a successful return and one that dispelled the demons of 2020 that saw them go winless across 6 games.

2025 brought happier times for the men from the Vineyard having breezed through the group stage unbeaten, the closest of which was a 6 wicket win which underpinned their dominance.

They went into last season’s semi-final full of confidence but fell foul of a strong Lucan 3 up in St Catherine’s Park when only Muddesser Bhandara made runs on the day (36 from a team total of 92 all out).

Last season saw DLR County make their Russell Court trophy debut and what a debut it was. In fact, they progressed all the way to the Final before also succumbing to Lucan 3 albeit by the narrowest of margins (one run!) in what was a gripping Final hosted by Railway Union in Park Avenue.

The standout performers for the Shanganagh Park side that day were Muhammad Hammaf (4/14), Hitesh Bhatia (2/24), Aman Mehrotra (2/26) and Arpan Jhamb (2/24) whilst their batting was underpinned by Rahul Shah (38) supported by some useful contributions from others including the veteran opener (Shailendra Mishra).

DLR County 2

We wish all teams every success in the season ahead and please feel free to follow all the action on the CL Match Centre:

https://www.cricketleinster.ie/match-centre