Following their mid-summer break the Russell Court D1 and D2 competitions commence their final run in with a double weekend. Clontarf have a 45 point lead at the top of the RCD1 and wins this weekend v Leinster [Sat] and Cork [Mon] would make their position almost unassailable. For the chasing pack it is just a matter of keeping up the pressure and hoping that somehow Clontarf will be tripped up [at least twice] somewhere along the way.

There is probably greater interest in the bottom half of the table. Cork have to take something from the weekend games [v North County today] if they are to have any chance of survival. A tall order. The second relegation spot is more open and todays most interesting match may well be between Phoenix and Pembroke, currently lying second and seventh respectively in the league. Each team needs a win but for different reasons. On Monday Pembroke take on Leinster in another battle that may have a bearing on the relegation play-off spot. YMCA, who still have an important reflex v Leinster from earlier in the season to play, have a difficult assignment away to The Hills.

Malahide have a big weekend ahead of them in RCD2. Wins today [v North Kildare] and on Monday [v Railway] would reignite their push towards the promotion play-off spot. They need 80 points to overtake Dublin University out of a potential 125. They really cannot afford to drop too many points over the weekend with a difficult fixture v Merrion coming up at the end of the month.

Merrion are currently 94 points ahead of Malahide, the only team that can catch them. They have two away matches this weekend v Railway [Sat] and v Balbriggan [Mon]. They have the luxury of being able to bring a number of new faces into their league teams. No more bets are being taken on the RCD2 title.

Rush are currently lying last in the table, but within one win of the next three teams, Balbriggan, Railway Union and North Kildare. Rush take on Balbriggan today and Terenure on Monday. There will be a certain anxiety among all these teams to avoid the relegation spots. But coming last or second last doesn’t necessarily mean relegation - if teams in D3 decline promotion. 

The teams for the weekend as announced:

Clontarf: Joe Morrissey [C], Sameer Dutt, Declan Gallagher, Ropu Islam, Waqar Azmat, Bill Coghlan, Andrew Poynter, David Delany, Robert Forrest, John Mooney, Brad Barnes [W] Same team both days

Pembroke: Lawson P [C], Balbirnie J, Cutler N, Garth JJ, Gupta S, Hogan, D, Lawson T, Tucker L [W], Tucker, F, Tucker, D, Garth K. Same team both days

The Hills: Max Sorensen [C], Mark Donegan [W],, Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin, Sean Terry, Hamid Shah, Albert Van der Merwe, Ryan Cartwright, Tomás Rooney Murphy, Naseer Shoukat, Yaqoob Ali, Andrew Kavanagh. With Luke Clinton in for Kavanagh on Monday.

North County E.Richardson [C], J.Grassi [W], N.McGovern, A.Sheridan, J.Andrews, T.Sheil, N.Rooney, A.Coughlan, T.Richardson , C.Sheil, C.Mulvaney. A Gugale and M Singh in for C Sheil and A Coughlan on Monday.

Cork County [Sat]: S. Grobler [C], R. Duggan, C. Hassett [W], , M. Bauer, K. King, S. Joshi, A. Cawley, J. Hunter, D. Carey, A. Wootton, P. Barlow. A number of new faces on the Cork team.

Phoenix: Nicolaas Pretorius [W/C], Reinhardt Strydom, Ari Karvelas, Tom Anders, Ian Anders, Rory Anders, Andy Brawders, Adam Chester, Gordy Millar, Stephen Black, Ben White. Graham Morris, Keegan Cox and Jamie Maginnis added to the squad for Monday.

Merrion: Dom Joyce [C], John Anderson, Jamie Brown, Vikas Dhiman, Tom Stanton, Sean Stanton, Patrick Tice [W], Tyrone Kane, Michael Lewis, John Blakeney, Matt Libermann. On Monday JJ Walsh and Jamie McNulty come in for Kane and Dhiman. There are league debuts for youth players - Libermann, Walsh and McNulty.

Railway Union: Kenny Carroll [C], Rachit Gaur, Abdullah Hafiz, Alex Stiles, Ranil Dhammika, Robin Russell, Dhram Singh, Mo Tariq, Saad Ullah, Ciaran Divney [W], Andy Jackson - with Eoghan Grehan, Furqan ul Haq and AN Other coming in for Stiles, Divney and Jackson.

North Kildare have skipper Neil Vorster out with injury and Matthew Bond making his debut. The team is:

Sean Dalton, Manjeet Singh, Robert Neavyn, Paul Ryan, Tom Satchwell, Dáire O'Neill, Manpreet (Monty) Singh, Tehsheen Hamshi, Matthew Bond,, Mathew Auret, Ian Walshe

Rush: Neil Rock(C/W), Allan Eastwood, Aaron McGuire, Alex Neary, Saadat (Tipu) Gull, Stephen Doheny, Sean Monks, Niall Mullen, Conor Armstrong, Dean Brogan, Shahrukh Shamin. Nathan McGuire in for Niall Mullen on Monday.