With another cloudy and wet day in prospect, attention turns from the various cup competitions back to the RSA Leinster Division 1 and Division 2 leagues. It is Round 10 of 14 so the finishing line is now clearly in view.
Today probably represents the last realistic chance for Terenure to stage a late fightback. They take on The Hills in The Vineyard who are currently lying 6th. A win for the home team is important to create some distance from the relegation zone. The Hills’ have had a good cup run this year and it has allowed key players to get back into something approaching reasonable form. A home win is on the cards but ‘last chance’ fever will spur Terenure to keep their hopes of Division 1 cricket alive for at least another week.
At the other end of the table Merrion need to shake off some patchy recent performances to set up a run for the title. John Anderson is still missing from their line-up and Merrion will miss his bowling as much as his batting. Tyrone Kane, Brett Thompson and Dom Joyce have all been in the runs and will be expected to lay the platform for a win but Merrion will need to take more wickets if they are to maintain their challenge for the league. The last time the two teams met North County lost a close encounter that they had plenty of chances to win. If they are given the opportunity by Merrion they can take advantage but a home win is the more likely.
Clontarf take on Railway Union in Castle Avenue and will be strong favourites to continue their five win sequence in 50/60 overs cricket. They have relied heavily on their strong batting line-up led by Andrew Poynter and Bill Coghlan for their recent success but have well balanced side. For Railway to have any chance they will need to match them on the batting front. But it has been nearly a month since their last win and it is difficult to see Clontarf giving them the opening to close the gap with The Hills today.
The final match should be a closely contested game between local rivals YMCA and Pembroke at Claremont Road. The last time the teams met Pembroke came out on top in a fractious affair. With Trent Johnston in the team for today’s match, YMCA have nearly their strongest line-up available. Pembroke on the other hand have perhaps the best fielding side in Leinster and use this to create pressure on opponents. If they can get into the YMCA batting they will have a reasonable, if outside, chance of a victory.
In Division II there are four matches, Cork County [one point behind the leaders Malahide with a match in hand] against Merrion II, Malahide v Balbriggan, Pembroke II v Rush and Phoenix v Leinster. The first three matches should go to form and probably won’t affect any final league placings. The match in the Phoenix Park on the other hand could have a major bearing on the relegation battle. If Phoenix can manage a win they will put themselves in a strong position to finish above Merrion II and Pembroke II. A loss could well mean that it all comes down to a head-to-head between them and Merrion II. Phoenix will be very keen to avoid this and this could be enough to give them the edge over Leinster.
Teams Sheets [as availbale]:
YMCA: A van der merve, P J Moor, J Tector, T Fisher, A Bailey, S Singh, S McAudey, T Johnston, R Chawla, B Gamble, Y Ali.
Leinster: C Mallon, P Johnston, G Delany, JP O'Dwyer, J Carroll, J Kerrison, R Forrest, R Kenealy, B Azhar, S Chaudhary, C O'Gormon
Railway: P Collins, C Divney, K Carroll, P Conliffe, R Gaur, D Kapoor, G Lambert, S Shamim, M Tariq, T Townsend, S Ullah
Malahide: C Riches, A Reynolds, F McAllister, J Govan, P Chase, A Morris, P Saville, C Shoebridge, G Deans, D Arnold, R Strydom