YMCA capped an excellent weekend by winning the RSA Leinster Senior Cup against Pembroke on home ground on Sunday. The previous day they had taken an important step towards the domestic double when they defeated Merrion, their closest rivals in the Division 1 league. On each occasion they have to thank the batting skills of Jemery Bray, who rescued YMCA from an early batting collapse against Merrion, making 87* in the process, and again on Sunday when he top scored with 130*. [The full scorecard can be viewed under Results]
With early wickets falling at Milverton, Sydney Parade and Claremont Road on Saturday it looked for a while like there might be some final twists and turns to the D1 season. As it turned out YMCA [v Merrion] and The Hills [v Leinster] were able to wrest back control of their respective matches and set up the league for a contest between the two clubs when they meet on 31st August. Leinster’s defeat also means that Railway Union can rest easy knowing that they cannot be relegated unless Leinster win their last two games, with maximum points, and they in turn lose both their remaining games and get no bonus points. This is too much of a stretch even for a Hollywood storyline.
The Championship itself is now between The Hills and YMCA. Merrion have an outside chance if they can win their last two games with a generous number of bonus points and the winner of The Hills v YMCA were to lose their final game and get relatively few points over the two games. This is the long version of saying that the Championship is between YMCA and The Hills. A YMCA win could be enough to crown them champions on 29th August [depending on bonus points and how Merrion do in their next match]. If The Hills win the competition will extend into the final weekend.
In D2 the main outstanding issue is who shall take the second relegation spot. This is between Balbriggan and Merrion II and they also meet on the 29th August. It looks like a straight ‘winner takes all’ contest between the two sides. Rush can still catch Terenure and take the second promotion spot – but this would mean Terenure losing their final two games and Rush winning both of their matches. Hollywood might take this on but still a very unlikely outcome.