The Open Competitions Division 1 League has now reached the halfway stage and the issues for the different clubs for the remainder of the season are becoming clearer. The league [after a number of weeks where teams were losing to each other] is beginning to fracture with Clontarf and Pembroke battling it out for the lead and others clearly in the relegation zone.
At the top of the table Clontarf and Pembroke have very similar records with both teams on 5/6 wins. Pembroke’s win in their match against Clontarf ensured that the race for the championship remains very open as we start the second circuit.
Following one win behind are The Hills and Phoenix [the former has a game in hand]. Having been promoted this season there will be satisfaction in both camps that they have done well in the first half of the season and barring an extraordinary loss of form can feel comfortable that they secured their position for another season. With one match of the first cycle to play, The Hills will be hoping that a win [the match is against Clontarf] will propel them into contention for honours.
North County have had an up and down season and will be very pleased to have pulled off a good win against Merrion yesterday. Three wins out of seven is not a great return from the first round of matches, but it will probably be enough to extend their run [the longest in D1] in the top flight. But they cannot afford any slip ups and will probably need at least two more wins to be safe. The plan for the rest of the season must be to make sure they retain a margin of at least one win above the bottom three.
The other three clubs are fighting it out to avoid automatic relegation and / or play-off. YMCA is currently last but has two matches to refix. One of these is against fellow struggler Railway Union and this now takes on a massive importance. The third team at the bottom is Merrion who have played their full round of matches and have lost to both teams below them. For the three D4 clubs the challenge facing them is simple - survival. What games should they target and given the closeness of the contest how many bonus points can they secure. Every match and every point will count.
The following is not an official Table. Scorecards are still being processed. It may be a few points out [there were a couple of DL results]. But it should be pretty close. But I emphasise it is not official.
| Team | P | W | L | Points |
| Pembroke | 6 | 5 | 1 | 119 |
| Clontarf | 6 | 5 | 1 | 117 |
| The Hills | 6 | 4 | 2 | 97 |
| Phoenix | 7 | 4 | 3 | 93 |
| North County | 7 | 3 | 4 | 74 |
| Merrion | 7 | 2 | 5 | 58 |
| Railway U | 6 | 1 | 5 | 36 |
| YMCA | 5 | 1 | 4 | 33 |
Matches outstanding
Railway v YMCA
YMCA v Pembroke
Clontarf v The Hills