It was a battle of the Ford brothers in the Fingal derby with Matt Ford outgunning sibling Greg in a tense tussle that went to the penultimate ball. Greg's unbeaten 100 helped Balbriggan to 260, with runs too for Ghanim Dara (40), Connor Fletcher (35) and Farooq Nasr (26).

It perhaps should have been more, and they were made to pay as Matt Ford made a typically powerful 116, and helped by an unbeaten 31 from Andrew Sheridan, they got over the line.

Clontarf were the quickest winners of the day as they had little trouble accounting for Railway Union. Riley Mudford's 37, and 35 from Hamza Maan were the best efforts of a disappointing Railway effort of 144.

Birthday boy Fionn Hand took three wickets, while there two each or Mick Granger, David Delany and Ruan Cronje. Bobbo Forrest thumped 11 fours in a rapid 63 from 55 deliveries, while John McNally hit 41 as they sealed the six-wickets win in the 23rd over.

YMCA dug deep to beat Merrion by 27 runs, having looked dead and buried. Chasing 253, Swapnil Modgill (86) and Jack Carty (71) shared an opening stand of 173 to leave the Anglesea Road side needing 80 in 14 overs with all their wickets intact.

However, the wheels came off as Tom Anders claimed 5 scalps, with Mikey O'Reilly and Reuben Wilson two each to be dismissed for 225.

YM's innings saw Rory Anders top-score with 64 (10 fours, 1 six), sharing a third wicket stand of 132 in 25 overs with Adam Rosslee, whose 63 included 8 fours and a six. Ash Burton's unbeaten 62 added late runs - Hugh Kennedy taking four wickets for Merrion.

Leinster have emerged as serious title contenders and this feels like a statement win for the Rathmines side against The Hills. Peter Francis hit 7 fours and 4 sixes in a rapid unbeaten 83 from only 57 balls. Michael Hogan stroked 12 boundaries in his 79, while Saqib Bahadur made 71 (9 fours) in a home total of 284 for 7.

The chase looked on with Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin and Nathan Rooney (52) adding 83 for the 5th wicket. However, from 185 for 4, they were dismissed for 244. McLoughlin-Gavin hit 11 boundaries in a top-score of 90, before becoming the first wicket of Saqib Bahadur'ss hat-trick.