The Tenth Round of D1 of the RSA [Open Competitions] League may not have settled the outcome of the league but it has certainly cemented the positions of the teams at top and bottom of the table. The clash between Leinster and Terenure went the way of the form book but Terenure had opportunities with Leinster at 71/5 and 90/6 to cause an upset. As it turned out a recovery to 171 [46 overs] and another very poor batting performance was enough to give Leinster a comfortable victory by 98 runs.
The win means that Leinster have opened up a three win gap over the rest of the field and it will take a remarkable series of results to deny them the league title. For Terenure, there is also a three win gap between them and the chance of safety, but with only four games to play it is difficult to see how they can make up this differential and any outcome other than relegation seems very unlikely.
North County’s narrow loss to Clontarf also puts them under increased pressure to avoid the second drop spot. With four rounds to go there is obviously plenty of opportunities to turn the year around but even a one win gap from the rest of the field looks threatening.
All the remaining teams are on four wins. Clontarf, Railway Union and Merrion secured vital wins to bring them back into the pack while the losses by YMCA and The Hills halted their efforts to catch Leinster. There is now less than 8% points dividing the second to sixth placed teams.
So with one month to go there are six teams whose only priority in the league must be to avoid that second relegation spot.