THE Leinster League season will go down to the wire this weekend with the new home of the title still to be decided – and who will join Terenure in Division 2.

Merrion’s win over YMCA makes them favourites, seven points behind but with a game in hand. That spare fixture will take place tomorrow evening in Skerries, and its significance has been ratcheted up a few notches by the bad-tempered game two weeks ago and the slide of the Hills into the relegation zone.

And with poor weather about, Merrion could even go top before the last round with a washout in the Vineyard. Next weekend they play their final game in Clontarf – who are the only club with nothing to play for on the day, bar a winning send-off to the retiring Paul Ryan.

Merrion stuttered in recent weeks but a typical John Anderson century set them up to beat their closest rivals. Anderson is the shining light in probably the best top five in the country – Ben Ackland, Brett Thompson, Tyrone Kane, Dom Joyce complete the set – and their bowling has been lifted by the arrival of South African former pro Deon Carolus.

YMCA were hit by Jeremy Bray’s departure to Denmark, while coaching commitments reduced Trent Johnston to just three league appearances. Imports PJ Moor and Tom Fisher made runs sporadically, but Simmi Singh won matches with bat and ball and Yacoub Ali has proved that a commute from Kerry doesn’t prevent you becoming one of the best bowlers in the league.

YM have a stiffer task too – the newly crowned All Ireland champions who are backed into a corner and fighting for their lives. There’s no more dangerous situation to play the Hills. The third crucial fixture takes place in the Inch where North County start a whisker behind Railway Union.

The winner will survive; the loser will have to see whether the Hills can scramble enough points to pip them. North County will be buoyed by Kevin O’Brien’s absence and if they can avoid a middle order collapse like last week – when Tim Affleck, John Mooney and Eddie Richardson fell in four balls to Tomas Murphy – then they will fancy their chances.

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THE Cricket Leinster website warned clubs this week against fraudulent use of the starring lists. Inside Edge understands this came about because of a 1st XI player playing for a 3rd XI under a false name.

It was only when he took a wicket and an excitable team-mate called out his real name that the opposition twigged something was fishy. A quick smart-phone search of Facebook found the culprit and screen-grabs were taken, shown to the umpires and forwarded to CL as evidence. It’s not just Jack Bauer and CTU who use technology to catch the baddies.

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BALBRIGGAN players Mohammed Farrukh and Shammy Ahmed will miss next weekend’s game. The pair will swop Jack Harper Park for Martin Luther King Drive in Chicago where they play for the $10,000 prize in the T20 Unity Cup.

Ahmed lines out with the Rapid Tigers and Mohammed Farrukh with the Punjab Lions in an event which also promises test stars from Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka. The semis and final will be streamed live on maqtv.com

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THERE was a lot of muttering about CI refixing the semi-finals of the Irish Senior Cup contrary to regulations – but tournament director Michael Sharp was vindicated by two classic semis that will live long in the memory.

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FIXTURES

Today: (day 3 of 3) NW Warriors v Northern Knights, Eglinton RSA Div1: The Hills v Merrion (5.0); Women’s Div1: Leinster v Pembroke, Malahide v North Kildare

Friday: Boys U11 All Ireland final: Eglinton v Rush

Saturday: RSA Div1: Clontarf v Merrion, North County v Railway, Pembroke v Terenure, YMCA v The Hills, Div2: Balbriggan v Pembroke II, Merrion II v Leinster, Phoenix v Cork County, Rush v Malahide