Burndennett in pole position

And after a summer where Glendermott led the table pretty much throughout, pursued by Killyclooney, it would appear that neither may now finish in the coveted top two places.

A strong finish by St Johnston has seen them win seven of their last eight matches and move them into joint top spot on 20 points with just one game left, at home to Bonds Glen this coming Saturday.

Glendermott slipped to third having lost two of their last four but the real power-packed finish has come from Burndennett who are now slight favourites for the automatic promotion spot.

Mark Roulston’s men have been in superb form in the second half of the season and two wins at the weekend has seen them move joint top and on a winning run of seven straight games.

As league positions are decided on head-to-heads in the event of a tie Burndennett are very much in the box seat having won three of their four matches against the other two. That said however they do have very much the most difficult final game of the three to negotiate as they travel to Drummond this coming Saturday.

Stevie Moore’s team is one of the strongest in the league on paper and the visitors would have wanted something a bit handier in which to try to win the league.

The picture changed dramatically at the weekend when the Saints knocked Glendermott off their perch with a 30-run victory at the Rectory.

The game was reduced to 41 overs per side after early morning rain and the home side would have been happy to keep their visitors to 166 all out as they batted first. Jassi Wallia top scored- what a season he is having at the Boathole - his 51 was to be the difference between the teams in the final reckoning. Michael Rankin dug in well for his 23 while Nathan Cole’s late 20 helped too.

Gordon Montgomery swapped the keeper’s pads for the ball mid-way through the innings and was the most successful bowler with 3 for 23 while there were two wickets apiece for Stuart Cochrane and Alan Johnson.

The hosts top order had problems coping with the pace of Ryan Macbeth (3-20) and the slower stuff from Kushpal Singh (3-15) and Wallia (3-20) as the reply got bogged down in reply.

The key wicket of Roy Silva was again the turning point- the Sri Lankan failing against the Donegal men for the second time in a week- and after that the home side were in trouble. Skipper Montgomery battled hard for his 34 but he looked like a man who knew the game was up when he mistimed one for a simple caught and bowled and although Cochrane gave it a late bash, St Johnston went to the top of the table with a 30-run win.

Burndennett made short work of a Killyclooney side who no doubt had one eye on Sunday’s National Cup final against Carrickfergus. ’Clooney were first in here and were indebted to 37 from John McCreanor to get them up to 125 all out.

Performance of the day with the ball came from John McGettigan who bowled seven maidens in his 10 overs to finish with 3-7 while skipper Roulston also picked up three wickets and Mark Porter two.

The latter then swapped ball for bat and hit 5 fours and 4 sixes in an entertaining 50 while 26 from Ross McCay sealed a comfortable seven-wicket win.

Drummond enjoyed a similarly straightforward win at home to Creevedonnell in another game to be affected by the weather, this one finally reduced to 20 overs apiece.

Don Dougherty with 35 and Trevor Dougherty (28) fared best for the visitors in their 118 for 6 but it was never going to be enough. Michael Lynch with 47 paved the way for the home side’s winning reply and although Kyle Culbert picked up a couple of wickets for ’Donnell, an unbeaten 50 run partnership between Ricky McDaid and skipper Stevie Moore closed out an emphatic win.

In the final match on Saturday, Sion Mills edged closer to relegation when they lost by 73 runs at Bonds Glen. David Robinson with 39 and 31 from Derek Curry were the highlights of the Glen’s 182 all out, Craig Alexander and Johnny Havern with three wickets apiece for the visitors. Havern also top scored with the bat for Sion his 34 not out and 33 from Simon Galloway the best of the reply by some way as the bottom side were all out for 109.

Runs have been a major problem for Ryan O’Neill’s men this summer and it was a familiar picture on Sunday in the day’s only league match as Burndennett consolidated their position in the table.

Glenn McCallan’s 15 was the best that the visitors had to offer in a disappointing 55 all out - John McGettigan continuing his superb weekend with the ball claiming five for 26 while Stephen McCay added three for 27. The home side easily got the runs as Mark Doherty with three fours and two sixes in his 31 not out and Mark Porter with three sixes in his unbeaten 25 meant a 10-wicket win.

It’s a simple equation for Burndennett now - a win at Drummond sees them promoted to the Premier Division for the first time ever while for Sion they are unfortunately relegated.