Wednesday the 19th of July turned out to be a memorable day for Donemana Primary School. The boys’ team from Donemana P.S were crowned Northern Ireland Kwik Cricket champions. This is the second time they have won the trophy in six years, the last in 2007. Not only was it a success story for the boys but the girls also gave a great account of themselves by finishing fourth overall in the tournament.
The Northern Ireland Finals took place at the Northern home ground of Cricket Ireland, Stormont. 16 boys’ teams and 8 girls’ teams managed to get through regional and district heats to make it to these prestigious finals. The day began with group stages and the Donemana Boys team were placed with Inchmarlow (The Royal Belfast Academical Institution Preparatory School), Maguiresbridge P.S. and Strandtown P.S. B Team (Belfast). The boys began against Inchmarlow and came out convincing winners with an 84 run victory. After ironing out some early nerves, the boys then took on Maguiresbridge. This game built their confidence further as they won the match by an excellent 96 runs. Going into the last game of the group stage, Donemana Boys were fielding, batting and bowling extremely well. They put these skills to the test against Strandtown B. Having lost the toss, Donemana had to bat first. They set an outstanding score of 321 runs aided by some terrific batting by Levi Dougherty, Raymond Curry, Jamie Robinson and William Finlay. It was then Donemana’s turn to bowl against Strandtown. They bowled and fielded tremendously allowing them to keep Strandtown to a total of 252. This meant victory for Donemana by 69 runs.
With three victories under their belt Donemana progressed to the semi-finals with a match against their local rivals Newbuildings P.S. In the North-West regional final last year, Donemana suffered defeat at the hands of Newbuildings, so this set up a very tense encounter in the semi-final. The boys clearly had revenge on their minds as they once again fielded brilliantly and limited Newbuildings to 216 runs. The boys showed an immense hunger for victory and scored a staggering 320 runs, winners by 104 runs. The other semi-final between Eglington P.S. and Pond Park Primary finished as a draw but because Pond Park took more wickets they were declared the winner.
The final between Donemana and Pond Park (Lisburn) was an absolutely nail biting affair. Donemana won the toss and decided to field first as this had been their key strength all day. Pond Park were an extremely experienced team and gave away very few wickets and they finished on a total of 236 runs. With Donemana’s turn to bat next, nerves started to become a factor, particularly evident when they lost a wicket from the first ball. However, getting a few runs under their belt began to shake the nerves off. Pond Park continued to bowl and field well, taking numerous catches and limiting Donemana to a small amount of runs, the first team to do so all day. The last over for Donemana was the most important one of the day because it would decide who the N. Ireland Champions were going to be. As William Finlay and Joshua Nixon faced the last over people watched through their hands as they were sick with nerves.
By scoring a six in this last over it put Donemana up by three runs so all they had to do was hold on. It was a nerve wracking last ball but patience and perseverance paid off as Donemana won the match by three runs. What a final! The boys received their trophy and medals and were crowned Northern Ireland Kwik Cricket Champions.
The girls from Donemana P.S. also had a very successful day. They were drawn against Strandtown (Belfast), Christie Memorial (Coleraine) and a NI Select. The girls won one of their games but still managed to get through to the semi-final, once again against Strandtown. This time the game was a more closely fought affair but unfortunately the girls lost. This was still a remarkable achievement as they were the forth best girls’ team in N. Ireland.
This was a memorable day for Donemana Primary School and one the pupils, staff and parents won’t forget. This is an unbelievable achievement for a school of only 88 pupils. Well done to everyone involved!
