Round 12 of the Mason Alexander / LHW Financial Services Premier League
With three rounds of games to go the pathways to the title are becoming clearer. For North County the loss to Clontarf earlier in the week makes it very difficult for them to take the top spot. Given their deficit in bonus points against their two rivals [Clontarf and Merrion] their only realistic route to the title is if both the other teams end up losing one out of their next two games and that Clontarf then defeat Merrion on the last day. Even then much will depend on the distribution of bonus points and of course NC winning all three of their remaining games.
In their head to head encounters this season Clontarf hold a 2/1 advantage over Merrion winning in the T20 Final and in their home league fixture, but losing in the ISC semi-final. The likelihood is that the final-round league game between the two sides will determine the title. Clontarf are also through to the Leinster Senior Cup Final and could meet Merrion again if the latter can overcome North County in the SF tomorrow.
In terms of the league title itself it is probably fair to say that each team has one hand on the trophy, with Merrion perhaps having the stronger grip. Merrion can afford to concede one loss more than Clontarf over the penultimate rounds and still go into the final day only needing a win to take the title. Clontarf do not have that luxury and must at least match Merrion in the number of wins going into the final round.
All games in today's 12th Round have a direct bearing in the battles for league honours or to avoid relegation. Merrion will want to apply further pressure on Clontarf [whose game against YMCA is postponed] by beating Phoenix in the Park. Matters are just as important for Phoenix who need a win to keep pressure on fellow strugglers. Phoenix have a tough run in [next week they take on North County] and will just be hoping that they can gather enough points [and other matches fall favourably] so that they can arrive at the final weekend with a chance at survival.
North County travel to Pembroke and must win if they are to retain even an outside chance of league honours. A win today, with matches to follow against the bottom two sides, and they could end up with around 240 points. This probably won’t be enough, but they will remember that last season Leinster squeezed through a gap left open by The Hills and Clontarf to take the title.
Three teams are in competition to avoid first automatic relegation and then the play-off spot. Two of these, The Hills v Leinster, play each other today in a crunch fixture. A win for The Hills [unless Phoenix manage an upset against Merrion] and they are close to safe from automatic relegation and in a strong position to avoid the play-off spot. They then have a difficult game away to Merrion next round and will be keen to avoid leaving matters undecided and arriving at the final round needing a win v Phoenix .
If Leinster can continue their recent run of good form and manage one more win today - then there will be massive pressure on The Hills over the final two rounds. Leinster have games against North County and YMCA.
It is still all to play for at both ends of the table.
Teams
North County: Niall McGovern [C], Jamie Grassi [W], Malcolm Nofal, Jonno Andrews, Eddie Richardson, Safdar Ali, Andrew Sheridan, Adam Coughlan, Manmeet Singh, Sean Kingston, Cian Mulvaney
Merrion [from]: D Joyce [C}, J Carty, J Anderson, T Kane, P Mehta, M Lewis, P Tice [W], T Stanton, S Stanton, M Neville, JJ Walsh, N Shankar.
The Hills: Nicolaas Pretorius [C], Kyllin Vardhan., Albert van der merwe , Mark Donegan, Daya Singh , Max Sorensen, Tomas Rooney Murphy, Naz Shoukat, Andy Kavanagh, Harry Archer, Luke Clinton
Pembroke: Fiachra Tucker [C],, Lorcan Tucker (W), Theo Lawson, Paul Lawson, Diarmaid Tucker, Jack Balbirnie , Alex Ridley, JJ Garth, Gavin Hoey, Sanil Gupta, David Murphy
Leinster: G. Delany(C), I. O'Herlihy(W), M. Patel, J. Carroll, H. McDonnell, F. O'Sullivan, JP O' Dwyer, S. Bahadur, A. Clough, B. Azhar, E. McKay