On the 10th July 1926, a Merrion 1st XI played their first ever match in the Senior League at Anglesea Road. The opposition was Clontarf and the game ended in a draw. In the 100 years of senior cricket since, allowing for one year lost to Covid, 819 Leinster Senior League, Cup or League/Cup matches have been played on the ground.
Anglesea Road has never been much of a fortress for the home team with the total of wins recorded only marginally ahead of the losses [339 / 326]. The remainder were either Draws or No Results. There has never been a Tie in a senior game at home. For what it is worth the home record is still better than the away with 291 wins v 383 losses.
As can just about be seen from an aerial photo from 1925, the ground at that time was much smaller than the present day, with the extra land at the Hazeldene side not been leased until 1956. If you look carefully at the top left of the picture you can just make out the old boundary between Hazeldene and Merrion and the oldest pavilion on the Dunluce side. A ‘new’ pavilion was built in 1929 and lasted until 1971, by which time it was showing its age.
Originally the wickets ran straight down the ground. Even after the orientation of the wickets was switched to run from Hazeldene to Stephenson’s [Dunluce today] junior and youth games continued to be played on wickets aligned to run towards the Dodder.
There is no picture of the Merrion team of 1926. The team that played the first senior game at Anglesea Road was an interesting mix. The team on the day consisted of Cecil Little, the first of the dynasty, Jack O’Donnell, RP Garrigle, William Rumney, O Healy, David Moran, FW Fryer, Patrick B Kenny, Ernest W Morris, AJ Kennedy and GA Dowling. Of the regulars, Rollie Shortt and E Cochrane were missing.
It has not been possible to track down all the players from the Census of 1926, but one can get a feel for the composition of the team from those we can identify. There were two or three civil servants, an insurance inspector, a retail sales manager, an accountant, a bank official and a dentist. There was likely only one student. The average age of the members of the team we can identify was 30.
In 1926, the 1st XI came 5th in the league, winning seven games, losing 5 with the remainder drawn. It took another 15 years before Merrion achieved success, but then they did it in style being the first team to win the Senior League and Cup double in 1940.