Lisburn will play in their first All-Ireland T20 Final in August after beating Brigade in a last-over Semi-Final success at Wallace Park on Sunday.
Captain Neil Whitworth and professional Faiz Fazal put on a match-winning 71 for the sixth wicket after the NCU side had slumped to 80 for five in pursuit of Brigade’s 157 for six to leave them needing seven off the last over.
Scott Macbeth bowled Whitworth with the first ball to bring David Miller to the middle, and the wicket-keeper hit his second ball for six, and a single won the match with two balls to spare.
Lisburn will play Leinster in the Final at Phoenix Park as the Rathmines side hammered Munster T20 winners Cork Harlequins in the other Semi-Final by nine wickets after bowling them out for 45.
NCU sides – or rather, CIYMS – have dominated this competition, playing in all but one of the Finals since 2018, and with three-time winning captain Nigel Jones now playing for Lisburn, it continues his love affair with the competition.
But Brigade will look back on seven balls which probably cost them the chance of repeating their 2021 success in the competition.
The first was when Iftikhar Hussain ran down the middle of the pitch – having already been warned by the umpires – and that gave Lisburn a five-run start to their reply and Mark Adair’s superb 20th over when he bowled a maiden to Davy Barr.
It completed a marvellous four-over spell by the Ireland international – in his first season at Wallace Park – as he had conceded just eight runs in his first three overs and also took the wickets of Cameron Melly and Adam McDaid in successive balls.
South African Marcello Piedt denied him a hat-trick and went on to hit more than half his side’s runs, caught off Josh Manley at the start of the 18th over for 80 from 44 balls, which included four fours and seven sixes.
Lisburn’s Mark Adair helped his side to a Semi-Final victory over Brigade in the All-Ireland T20 Cup
He received good support from Hussain in a fourth wicket stand of 96 but either side of that, Lisburn were firmly on top.
Brigade hit back to take five wickets in the first 8.1 overs, including Jones for a golden duck and Adair leg before to Josh Wilson for two, but crucially, Lisburn had 80 runs on the board after Johnny Waite’s 20 off five balls had given them the perfect start.
Fazal, however, as he has done so often, was the immovable object, and he finished 68 not out from 57 balls.
At Rathmines, only two Cork Harlequins players reached double figures as beaten Finalists in 2021, like Brigade, failed to reach a second decider.
Meanwhile, Waringstown reached the Final of the Women’s T20 Cup after beating Fox Lodge at Ballymagorry.
Amy Caulfield, in her first season at The Lawn, led the way for the Villagers with 62 from 48 balls as the visitors totalled 150 for eight, and that proved 37 runs too many for the Foxes despite a fine all-round performance by Molly Devine.
The Warriors all-rounder took three wickets and conceded just one run in the last over of the Waringstown innings and then hit 59 off 40 balls, including four of the five sixes in the match – Naomi Matthews hit the other.
But no other batter reached double figures, and when Matthews had her caught at the start of the 16th over when they still needed 54, it was game over.
Phoenix will host Waringstown in the Final in the first game of the double-header on August 25.
BUTLER’S ALL-IRELAND T20 SEMI-FINALS
Wallace Park
Brigade 157-6 (M Piedt 80, I Hussain 26, S Macbeth 21; M Humphreys 3-27, M Adair 2-8)
Lisburn 161-6 (19.4 overs, F Fazal 68 not out, N Whitworth 33, J Waite 20; J Wilson 3-25, M Piedt 2-30)
Lisburn won by 4 wickets
Rathmines
Cork Harlequins 45 (13.1 overs, S Bahadur 4-5, J Carroll 3-8)
Leinster 47-1 (8.3 overs, B Azhar 25 not out)
Leinster won by 9 wickets
WOMEN’S T20 SEMI-FINAL
Ballymagorry: Waringstown 150-8 (A Caulfield 62, S Hinds 20; M Devine 3-24, L Neely 2-19)
Fox Lodge 113-7 (M Devine 59, C Lyons 2-26, R Harrison 2-35)
Waringstown won by 37 runs