With the RSA Open Competitions D1/D2 entering their final weekend all attention will be focused on the three games that hold the fate of the five clubs hoping to avoid relegation. D2 is easier to call as it is a straight head-to-head between Cork County and Leisnter II. Whoever wins stays up. The match is in Rathmines.
In D1 it is the matches beteen Merrion and Clontarf and North County and The Hills that hold all the interest. The simple equation at Anglesea Road is that the winner stays up. What can also be said is that if North County lose in Inch then they go down and the result between Merrin and Clontarf does not matter. Where it gets interesting is if North County win but get no losing points and Merrion lose and get five bonus points, then North County are releated. If the points are level at the end of the two games, then NRR kicks in and Merrion would be at a disadvantage. Are Clontarf safe? Nearly but not quite. If North County were to win with full points and and Clontarf to get none, then they would go down. I don't trust my maths to work out the permutations so I leave that to the clubs involved. We will be following all the games on the RSA Live Score Match Centre this afternoon.
Although the league competitions are not as closely contested as last year when both championship, promotion and relegation places were in play up until the last weekend, there has been very little between the sides in D1 with six teams winning between six and four matches. The gap in standard in D2 has been more pronounced but even here Belvedere who are relegated still won three matches out of 11.