With only one weekend left there are still a few matters to be determined before the players can put their feet up and leave it to the administrators to determine if their [the players] efforts during the season have been worth it. Once the dust has settled the OCC has the difficult task of assigning the teams to leagues. Of course performance on the field has a major bearing on this - but other factors intrude such as clubs dropping or adding teams, levelling out the number of teams across divisions, sorting out what happens if a team cannot be promoted because there is already a team from the club in the higher Division and trying to reflect the wishes of clubs who may want to drop one of their teams down the leagues. There is also the unknown of any changes to the structures of leagues. But that is all for the future.
The two big results last weekend were the victory by Leinster over Rush in the play-off for the Premier League and the last ball victory of Pembroke 2 over Merrion 2 in the decider for Division 3. There were plenty of other important games the results of which are reflected in the updated summary table.
Looking to this weekend’s fixtures. The winners and runners up for the top five Divisions have now been sorted. Indeed the first issue that remains to be settled is whether Civil Service or DLR County occupy the second relegation spot in D4. Civil Service have the extra points but can be overtaken if DLR win their outstanding game against Merrion 3 in Anglesea Rd on Saturday.
The first title decider takes place on Sunday when the two contenders for D6, Wexford and Mullingar, go head to head. Wexford only have a five point lead so it all comes down to the final match. At the other end of the table Terenure 2 and Bagenalstown may have to battle it out to avoid the second relegation spot. But before that Bagenalstown can make themselves safe if they can defeat Railway 3.
The second league to be decided in the final weekend is D7 where the leaders Clontarf 4 have to wait to see if Adamstown 2 can overcome Ringcommons on Sunday and take the title. There is a 13 point margin.
Another team that have to wait by the phone [or the Match Centre if scores are updated] is Clondalkin in D9. In this case it is Carlow who have the work to do and must win at Dundalk [Sunday] to take the title. There is a 14 point margin.
Bagenalstown 2 still have a chance of taking the runner-up position in D11 from Lucan 2 but to do this they must defeat AIB, the winners of the Division, on Sunday.
In D15 North Kildare 4 could just overtake Greystones 3 if they got a big point win v Finglas on Saturday. A challenging proposition given their respective positions in the table.
And finally, it has been pointed out that Ashbourne 2 who are lying third in D16 can overtake Clondalkin 2 if they win their final match. If they get full points they can even overtake the leaders Ringcommons 2 if they [Ringcommons] get no points from their last game v Swords 3 [who are lying last]. So apologies - still more to play for in D16.
As this is the last weekend and there are no more re-fixes, if matches do not get played then it is a No Result.