History_1950s_Reviewed

At the end of 1951 the Football Club found they were unable to space their pitches as they expected in the Lido Ground. After some months of discussion it was decided that the Cricket Club would relay this ground completely, the expenses of the various changes and ground levelling being borne by the Joint Committee. Extensive alterations and additions were made to the dressing rooms, showers, toilets, and other facilities in the pavilion.

Another Marchant Cup

The 1952 season brought two severe blows to the club. Joe Caprani joined the Leinster Cricket Club and Ernie Bodell moved to London. P.D. Little took over the role of pace bowler from Bodell with much success. Clontarf reached the final of the Cup only to be defeated by Dublin University. It was some compensation that Noel Mahony was winner of the Marchant Cup, the third Clontarf man to have achieved this distinction.

In 1953 the Club recorded only three wins in the thirteen matches. Malahide, having been promoted to senior status, were drawn against Clontarf in their first-round Cup match, which turned out to be a real thriller. The match was played at Malahide and the home side batting first scored 135. This did not seem a particularly formidable total, but only Noel Mahony, who carried his bat through the innings for 61 not out, and M. Wall, who hit a lusty 44, had any success in reply. Clontarf’s last two wickets fell without addition to the score, and Malahide had, in their first Senior Cup match, come through by a mere four runs. It established a pattern: Malahide won the next six cup matches in a row against Clontarf. We had to wait until 1976 for our first Cup victory over the village club.

Some Poor Seasons

In 1954 the weakness continued, but there was much promise in a strong 2nd XI. Another reason for optimism was that Ernie Bodell had returned from England, having in fact played a few matches late in the previous season. The 1st XI finished at the bottom of the League, but individual honours were to come. Ernie Bodell and Evans Dexter played for Leinster v. Munster at Park Avenue, with Bodell taking 5 for 11 in the first innings. A.W. Cooper gained his first Irish cap against Lancashire at Belfast. E.H. Bodell was capped for the Gentlemen of Ireland against the MCC at College Park. A season, therefore, that gave us little to enthuse about closed with the sight of two Clontarf men opening the bowling for their country.

The 1955 season did not prove to be any more successful. The club finished third from the bottom of the table, with only three wins to its credit, and Noel Mahony signified his intention of retiring from competitive cricket at the end of the season. On top of this, Louis Jacobson, dogged by his back injury, only played in half the matches, but new names appeared. Vinny Kelly returned from the country. V.F. Savino, who had joined the club from Cork, headed the bowling averages. Gerry Carroll began to show good form with the bat and Tommy Stanley also made his presence felt. Denis Green joined from Perthshire, while Dermot O’Sullivan, Dermot Sweeney and John Bell appeared from the previous year’s League-winning 2nd XI. The 3rd XI reached the final of the Intermediate League. Coupled with the Senior II League success of the previous year it was an optimistic portent. It was during this season that Louis Jacobson, being brought on to bowl his off-breaks on the YMCA ground, was hit for a considerable number of runs in his one over. After being hit for his second six he innocently asked his skipper for a second short-leg. Evans Dexter’s bellow of ‘No!’ was heard out on Claremont Road! As he put on his sweater at the end of that over, quite undaunted by three more lusty clouts, Louis remarked in his usual stage whisper, ‘if the ground had been a bit bigger those would all have been catches.’

At the close of the season, and to mark the retirement of Noel Mahony, who had also represented and captained his country, a match was played between his XI and the club. His side included some of the players who had played with him in Clontarf over the years – Joe Caprani, John Hill, Stan Keegan, Larry McMahon, Allen O’Donnell and Bob Smith. At the close of play the players on both sides lined up and applauded the skipper as he left the field.

In 1956, under the captaincy of Ernie Bodell, the club was faced with the problem of replacing not alone Noel Mahony but also Bill Moynan and Louis Jacobson. The latter played only two matches during the season, but new blood was forthcoming. Stan McMullen and I. Cox, both of whom had previously played for the Schools of Ireland, came into the side. The average age of the 1st XI was well under 30 and with Bodell in top form with the ball, Clontarf headed the League in mid-July.

But there was to be no Senior League success; as the season closed it was necessary to beat Pembroke and Phoenix in the final matches. Unfortunately both games were washed out. In a season in which no bowler took the 35 wickets required to qualify for the O’Grady Cup, Ernie Bodell was one of the least fortunate bowlers in the province, falling just two short. Incidentally, 1956 was the only year since the first award of the O’Grady Cup in 1937 in which no bowler from any club has qualified. In the Cup match we met the eventual winners, Leinster. Louis Jacobson, making one of his two appearances that season, scored a magnificent 73. In totalling 236 Clontarf looked set for victory, but Leinster chased the target in workmanlike fashion and won by by 7 wickets. T.G. Stanley played for Munster while G.M. Carroll was included in the Leinster side.

The 1957 side, again under the captaincy of E.H. Bodell, played 17 matches and only lost three, but drew nine. This side scored the second highest number of runs in the province, only Leinster who scored 400 more runs in the season, being above them, but in the department of taking wickets only three sides were below them. This season marked the introduction of A.W.D. Spence, who in his first full season scored 469 runs, the highest individual aggregate, and A.E. Smith, a slow left-hander, who impressed with his accuracy. L.C. Jacobson was available more often, and in eight completed innings scored 446 runs, at an average of 63•71. he had 100 against Leinster in the Cup and was runner-up for the Marchant Cup.

The 4th XI, ably and enthusiastically led by Vincent Hughes, after a good 1956 season, won the Junior Cup in 1957, and Roy Buckley, Fergus Carroll and Podge Hughes of that team were soon to represent the 1st XI.

New Ground and the Marchant Cup

Nineteen fifty-eight was a great year for the club. The new ground was opened with due pomp and ceremony and Eddie Ingram brought over a star-studded team to play at Castle Avenue. Those two great England cricketers Denis Compton and Bill Edrich were included. The two-day match was played throughout in a sort of haze (although the weather was fairly clear). The year was embellished only by the performance of a splendid 3rd team which won the Intermediate Cup and the Irish Junior Cup.

The following year can be regarded as Louis Jacobson’s finest. He won the Marchant Cup and in so doing scored two centuries and a 91 not out in successive innings. He opened the innings for Ireland and was awarded the Oulton Cup. Otherwise it was a barren season and no other trophy was won by the club.

The Fifties Reviewed

There was undoubtedly a great array of talent in the club during the decade, which started with a splendid Cup victory. Ernie Bodell, Joe Caprani, Alfie Cooper, John Hill, Louis Jacobson, Noel Mahony and Mike Stevenson all played for Ireland, and were backed up by such good uncapped players as Bob Furley, Bill Moynan, Paddy Burke and Evans Dexter. However, the unavailability of players on many occasions, either because they were playing representative cricket or on tour made for poor team spirit, and a policy of selecting good players home for holidays to the exclusion of promising youngsters did not help. Captaincy was not resourceful either, and players accumulated their runs without urgency, even when chasing reasonable totals. Dull draws were the norm and the results mediocre. These attitudes reflected all through the club’s cricket. Dressing-room poker was the more interesting pursuit. As the late John Bell so aptly remarked, ‘There was more excitement watching the rhubarb grow.’