If the Lamberts, particularly Bob, chiselled a distinguished portion of Leinster history there were other performers of star billing without whose contribution the past would not nearly be as honours-strewn as it is, players of rare talent and genius whose names will always be synonymous with all that is best in the fortunes of the club, Bill Harrington was such a player

Against the 1901 South Africans Harrington was the only non-Phoenix man on the Irish side beaten by five wickets in an exciting match. Because of a dispute Leinster had stood down from the fixture, but Harrington justified his acceptance on the count of also being a member of the County Kildare club.

Harrington was never one to concern himself with trouble off the field; wherever a game of cricket was to be had, he went after it. When at Clongowes, the schools professional, Bill Barnes, of Nottinghamshire, spoke of Harrington as "the best lad bowler I've ever encountered". Seldom was his bowling collared, not even by first class batsman on a featherbed wicket.

A slow bowler who did not do a lot with the ball, but relied on impeccable length and deceptive flight to worry the batsmen, Harrington could and would be delighted to bowl all day if so asked. On an English tour in 1902 he bowled 56 overs on the trot against Cambridge University in the first innings and took 7 for 76 runs. He captured a further 4 victims in the second knock. Three times he collected 11 wickets in a match for Ireland, with whom he toured North America in 1909.

Of Harrington, The Irish Field wrote: "Decidedly slow, he was a real master of his craft. A greater artist never lived at getting a batsman lbw, or by skillful flighting of the ball at luring him to destruction. He bowled a splendid off-break, sometimes varying his deliveries with one that came from leg."

For a time, Harrington's most able ally in the Leinster attack was Arthur Skelding, who in successive matches in 1919 took 7 for 37 against Dublin University at Rathmines and 7 for 28 and 6 for 59 against Phoenix at the Phoenix Park.

Jim Kempster was another Leinster player of star prominence. Tall and elegant and a very fine player in outstanding company, Kempster was lauded by Patrick Hone as "one of the soundest batsmen and keenest cricketers of the Leinster Club."

Twice he played for Ireland, away against Scotland on both occasions, in 1920 and 1922. Kempster often figured on the same Leinster team as Bob Lambert, with whose family he struck up a warm and lasting friendship.

Kempster had a third-wicket stand of 228 with Eddie Ingram against Phoenix at Rathmines in 1933. Seven previously he had led the Leinster Cricket Union averages with 372 runs in seven matches for an average of 62, but because he did not play in the minimum of 60% of the matches in that season did not qualify for the Marchant Cup. In fact, Jim Ganly took the trophy that summer with 61.40

Ganly, the prince of bug hitters, captained Ireland at cricket and also at rugby football and Patrick Hone remembered him as a "free, forward-playing batsman and a hitter of big lofty drivers." Equally severe on the over-pitched ball as he was on the short one of a length, he was, says Leinster Cricket Annual of 1941 "addicted to tremendous, high straight drives." Never a batsman to see virtue in restraint, he would, with inimitable impudence, clout even the best of bowlers all round the ground.

He went into the Ireland side as an 18-year-old fresh from St Columba's College and captained the team for the first time in 1926 and eight times in all to 1929. Included in that run was a famous victory over the West Indies at College Park in 1928. Capped 25 times between 1921 and 1937, he hit six fifties, including two in the 1926 match against MCC

On the club front he is the only player to score two double centuries in Leinster Senior Competitive cricket. The first - 203 came against Dublin University at Rathmines in 1927 and took only 183 minutes, including two sixes and 32 fours in a "faultless knock". Phoenix were at the receiving end of the other when he clubbed 232 in 120 minutes (six sixes and 24 fours) in a League final at Rathmines. In the Phoenix attack that hectic day was a young Jimmy Boucher.

In all Ganly scored 11 centuries in Leinster competitive cricket, the fastest of which 108 not out (five sixes and nine fours) came in 45 minutes against Phoenix at Rathmines in 1926. He won the Marchant Cup on two occasions, for as well as that success, in 1926 he had also taken the trophy three years previously when woth Trinity. In 1928 he led the all-rounders list with 296 runs at an average of 49 and 14 wickets at an average of 9.91. He was honoured with the Presidency of the Irish Cricket Union in 1965.

Another brilliant Leinster batsman of the 1920's was Jacko Heaslip. In 1922 he accumulated 889 runs for an average of 49.38 in 19 innings. In taking the Marchant Cup he had a top score of 141. His runs with Trinity that season (687 runs, average 52.84) won him the cup as the rules did not allow his four matches with Leinster to count in that competition. He also took 58 wickets that season.

The previous summer Heaslip had aggregated 780 runs in 23 innings for an average of 43m with a top score of 173 not out. In 1921 Heaslip captured 43 wickets and 58 in 1922. In Ireland's 1926 victory over MCC he had match analysis of 9 for 97. He played 18 times for Ireland between 1920 and 1933 with a top score of 94. He also claimed 48 international wickets for 984 runs and played with Ganly in the famous victory over the West Indies. Described as a "most gracious batsman" he afterwards did well in good English cricket, getting several big scores for Surrey

Another Leinster man to figure in the sensational defeat of the West Indies was Louis Bookman. He was gaining the ninth of 14 caps on that occasion and while he did not hit an international century had four fifties to his credit and set up the record stand for the first wicket with 111 in partnership with William Pollock against Scotland in 1922. An excellent slip fielder, he also bowled a bit and took six wickets for Ireland

As a batsman he was a superb off-side player, being portrayed as the "master of the late-cut." Small and tough, he was very severe on medium and fast bowling and had a delightful slashing square cover drive. His small slight figure did not lend itself to forceful driving, but perfect timing and skillful placing more than compensated for this

Probably his best knock for Leinster was his undefeated 102 against Dublin University at Rathmines in 1929. In the same innings Eddie Ingram, then batting in only his fifth senior knock, made 119. Bookman also had a century in an away match against Phoenix.

Around this period Leinster had a truly a star-studded team. C.M.Hill proved the top Leinster Cricket Union all-rounder with 401 runs for an average of 36 and 24 wickets for 273 runs. the previous year he had led the provincial fielding list with 14 catches, followed by Frank Reddy with ten. In all, Hill scored almost 3000 runs for Leinster.

A remarkable bowler was J.C.Shires, a Yorkshireman who played for the club for only three seasons, 1930/31/32. In 1930 he led the Leinster Cricket Union averages with 26 wickets for 82 runs, average 3.15 and the following season he again topped the averages with 29 wickets for 117 runs, average 4.03. In his first four league games for Leinster in 1930, Shires took 4-19, 7-8, 5-21 and 4-10, 20 wickets in all for only 58 runs! The following season he returned 7 for 22 against Phoenix at the Phoenix Park, 7 for 14 against Pembroke at Rathmines and 7 for 20 against Civil Service at Rathmines and in 1932 had 5 for 11 against Clontarf at Castle Avenue. An extraordinary sequence that has no parallel in Leinster bowling history!

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