Young stars bask in limelight
By David Holmes

Last weekend may have seen the TCH Down Democrat Challenge Cup finish in the trophy cabinet at Comber after an enthralling battle, but for two young men there was a presentation before the match that they will never forget.

This season saw the return of Man of the Match awards in each round and the sponsors also decided to reward notable contributions from players that really caught the eye.

Kieran Moloney, CEO TCH Democrat Media, explained: "At the quarter-final draw a chance conversation with NCU chairman Billy Boyd got me thinking.

"He mentioned that there had been two hat-tricks in the first two rounds and also that Instonians' John Stevenson had scored a remarkable 163 not out to basically single-handedly win the match.

"I know that normally such performances will win the man of the match award, but not always - as was the case with Johnny Baxter from Larne. I shared my thoughts with Billy and we came up with the idea that we would recognise any batsman who scored over 150 or a bowler bagging a hat-trick.

"We needed to come up with a suitable award that did not detract from the man of the match awards already in place and in consultation with Jack Murphy Jewellers in Newry we came up with a hexagonal glass trophy."

The award has the player's name, club, what the feat was, whom it was against and the date it took place.

For Larne's Johnny Baxter it certainly was a day to remember. The 23-year-old off-spinner's hat-trick came in the first round match against Laurelvale and he remembers it well.

"The skipper was actually going to take me off and I persuaded him to give me another over," Johnny recalled. "The first was a stumping, the second a catch at mid-on and third was gloved to first slip."

The match coincidentally was at Downpatrick where the presentations were made just before the commencement of play and Baxter certainly had a memorable day at the final.

"When I first heard about the award I thought it was a wind-up, but I was determined to be there," he said.

"For me coming from a Section Three club this is probably as close as I will get to being involved in a Challenge Cup final and it was tremendous to be standing in the middle and hear you name announced over the PA system."

Waringstown's Keith Morrison is perhaps more used to the big event and indeed he was preparing to play in the final when he received his trophy, also for a hat-trick, for him in the second round against Dunmurry.

Morrison took 7 for 18 which also ensured he will receive the Maultsaid Challenge Cup bowling award for the best performance in this year's competition.

For Morrison, however, he was just delighted to be playing at all having suffered a career-threatening cruciate injury to his left knee at the start of last season.

"I did not think I would be bowling again so soon, but against Dunmurry Simon Stokes was injured so I was opening the bowling," he said.

"I had never taken more than four wickets in an innings before never mind a hat-trick, so it was just an unbelievable day when everything went right for me.

"I think it is a great idea, you don't get too many hat-tricks. It is a wonderful looking trophy and is something that I will certainly cherish. It does not, however, make up for losing the Down Democrat Challenge Cup to North Down."

Morrison himself was entrusted with bowling the last over of the North Down innings in the final and said he felt no pressure despite the mounting tension.

He believed the pressure was on North Down, but he would have probably swapped the hat-trick against Dunmurry for a similar feat in the last three balls of the final.

Now that would have been drama.