The Merrion v Middlesex game on Sunday raised much-needed funds for the Philip Quinlan Fund, although the turnout was a bit less than hoped for. Few of the Leinster clubs sent more than the usual suspects along, and the enormous efforts made by Merrion were less lucrative than they should have been, particularly as some of Merrion's neighbouring clubs shamefully refused to refix their games.

Liberty Asset Challenge
Merrion President's XI beat Middlesex XI by 9 wickets Middlesex XI 241-7 (45 overs, E Joyce 54, A Strauss 53, E Morgan 35, S Cook 35, N Shaukat 3-37)
Merrion President's XI 242-1 (44.2 overs, J Bray 129*, T Fourie 88)

The game itself was most notable for the batting of two Irishmen, one soon-to-be-Irishman, and the Clontarf pro. Ed Joyce's fifty was as we came to expect, while Eoin Morgan's stylish 35 was an eye-opener for many. In his first game against such strong opposition, Morgan (right) showed great determination and a fine array of strokes. One Merrion man, who played two seasons with Ed Joyce when he was the same age as Morgan is now, maintained that Morgan was a better player. While Joyce had the strokes, Morgan has the strokes and the power to hit them off the square. He will be flying over and back to Middlesex all summer, playing for their under 17s and under 19s and perhaps the odd game for the seconds.

The long-throw competition (€2 a pop) was a great success, and many of the English guests had a go too. John Emburey's long, flat throw is a thing of distant memory, but the overall winner was Middlesex's Robin Weston with a hurl of 85 metres (92.96 yards), someway short of the Irish record of 104 yards, 1 foot 7 inches set by Frederic Kidd in 1874! Home members Dominic Joyce (who made 6 and 0 for Somerset 2nds v Lancashire last week) and Joe Morrissey were within 30cm of Weston, while Angus Fleming and Damien Poder were also impressive. Had Poder not thrown the equivalent of a wide he might have won! Una Budd won the ladies event with a throw of 60 metres and Kyle Tonetti won the junior section.