The LCU fixture computer (about the kindest description you'll ever get from me of Mary Sharp) allowed me to monitor the promotion and relegation battles in the WMK League, Section A, over the final weekend of the season.

Because my wife had been detained overnight in Mount Carmel after a procedure the previous day, I was a little late arriving in Castle Avenue , but as I parked my car I saw Nazeer drive airily at Joe Morrissey to be caught by Dom Rigby at mid on. I watched the scoreboard tick over to 12/4.

I had missed Rush lose their first three wickets: Niall Mullen, caught behind off JoMo; Lionel Jansen, lbw to JoMo; and Fintan McAllister, bowled by Ropu Islam. Tipu Gull and Shahid Iqbal played carefully for the next few overs.

Then Shahid, on 11, lobbed to catch to Andy Cullen off Ropu, to make it 32/5, and ten runs later Eoghan Conway was caught behind, also off Ropu. Keegan Clarke couldn't improve on last week's first-baller, and it was 42/7.

Wasim Akhtar hung around, and he and Tipu had a go at Greg Molins's slow left-armers, Tipu surviving two chances. Rod Hokin's leg breaks were more successful: Wasim holed out for 11; Conor Maguire was lbw; and Sean Monks bowled.

Tipu was left on 36*, there were 9 extras, and Rush had been bowled out for 82 in 30 overs. JoMo took 3/23 off 8, Ropu 4/24 off 10 and Hokin 3/10 off 5. Rush weren't going to win, but could they do their cause some good by getting among the Clontarf batsmen to gather a few bonus points?

Nazeer and Shahid tried their best, but couldn't make any impression on Dom Rigby and Eoghan Delany, the former working his favourite squarish Vs and the latter driving well. The Rush skipper rang the bowling changes, and eventually Rigby (22) drove Clarke to Monks.

61/1 became 66/2 when Rod Hokin's mind was obviously on the plane home as he was lbw to Clarke. Skipper Niall Mullen brought himself on, was walloped through extra cover twice by Delany (both times Naz made light of his years as he fruitlessly chased the ball to the rope) either side of 5 wides, then yielded a single.

Andrew Poynter couldn't get off the mark as Mullen bowled three more wides to finish the match. Delany made an excellent 43*, and Keegan Clarke finished with 2/4 off his three overs. Rush took just one bonus point for an eight wicket defeat.

This allowed me to drive up through Coolock, past the Darndale Hilton, and on to the Village. There I found Merrion had made 183 in their 50 overs, thanks to 102 from John Anderson. Dom Joyce had made 22, Matt Petrie 17, and Ernie Extras 14, leaving 28 between the other eight batsmen.

For Malahide, opening bowlers Steve Smith (3/23) and Shane Getkate (2/48) were successful, as was youngster Adam Coughlan with 1/28 off his 10 overs. The Village People had only pride to play for, having already been relegated.

Nick Turner was well caught at third slip by Curran off Petrie, and after prolonged resistance Neil Byrne skied Damien Poder to Petrie at mid wicket to make it 32/2. John Pryor, as ever, played a few handsome shots before being bowled by Pradeep Lavange for 20.

Five runs later Glenn Kirwan was lbw to Tiktish Patel to make it 52/4. Getkate survived the dolliest of catches but added only 11 before being bowled by Patel: 69/5. Mike O'Brien and Adam Coughlan ground it out, and after 36 overs the score was becalmed on 77/5.

Then O'Brien remembered what his bat is for, and hit Anderson straight for 4461. Coughlan chipped in with a four, and the score had increased by 25% in five balls. Another half dozen runs were worked off Anderson , before Petrie brought himself back and, with Keaveney, put Malahide out of their misery.

'Kiwi' yorked Coghlan for 11, Petrie bowled O'Brien for 27 and then hit Phil Markey's stumps. Andrew Pyne missed another Kiwi straight one, and poor Sam Cassidy was the proverbial startled rabbit in Matt Petrie's headlights.

Malahide's 118 occupied 46 overs and included 20 extras. Petrie took 4/8 off 8, Keaveney 2/17 off 5 and Patel 2/14 off 10. Merrion's 23 points left them in a good position with 164 points, needing the next day to beat North County and for The Hills to lose to Leinster to claim the league title.

Some of The Hills boys had come down to the Village to watch proceedings, including Mr Dwyer, their groundsman, but while the others were full of chat, Mr Dwyer was in vision-only mode. Surely I couldn't have upset him: I've always been so justifiably complimentary about his pitches and grounds at the Vineyard.

The match I didn't go to, North County v Leinster , turned out to be a real see-saw affair. County had slumped from 76/1 (Conor Armstrong 41, Reinhardt Strydom 42) to 137/6 (Anton Scholtz 2/26, George Dockrell 3/33), but recovered to 242/9 off 50 (Dara Armstrong 24, Denver D'Cruz 41), finished off by an unlikely 2/21 from Mark Jones.

To stay ahead of Rush, Leinster needed, if not a win, then as many bonus points as possible. At 33/5 (D'Cruz 3/23, Botha 2/11) they were still 110 runs away from a single point. At 90/8 they were still unlikely to reach 143, but JP O'Dwyer and Will Lennon had guided them to two points when JP was out for 84 with the score on 179.

George Dockrell (15*) did his bit as Lennon was finally out for 42, with Leinster 15 runs short of an unlikely victory with nine balls left in the match. The five bonus points meant that if Rush beat Malahide with maximum points and Leinster lost to The Hills with none, the two would be tied on 108 points.

The first tie-break, I was told, was league points between the two clubs, which were equal, and the second tie-break was Net Run Rate. Some Welsh anorak had calculated Leinster 's to be superior. So Leinster just had to turn up, enjoy the day, and let The Hills win the Senior League for the first time since 1989.

That prospect, the scones, and the laughing groundsman (l'équipage qui rit, I shall tell Johan), drew me to Milverton for the day. Luke Clinton won the toss and batted. The score had progressed to 20 against decent bowling from Byron Vermaak and Will Lennon when Patrick Byrne got a brute of a lifter from Vermaak, and Ian O'Herlihy gloved a good catch high to his right.

Jeremy Bray was batting properly all the time, unlike Barry Archer, who was mixing up good shots (especially pulls) with wafts. He was missed at slip by Mark Jones on 30, slowed up for a while, but then accelerated to the hundred partnership and his fifty, before perishing to Jonesey off Dockrell for 51 (92 balls).

Mike Baumgart was quickly into his stride, and with the increasingly dominant Bray compiled another century partnership. Bray, on 79, offered a sharp return catch to Rob Miley, but it went down. That was his only mistake.

Dockrell, who had been brought into the attack too late and withdrawn too early, finally accounted for Bray, well caught in the deep by Craig Mallon for an excellent 116 out of 231 in 133 balls. Baumgart quickly followed, caught and bowled by Vermaak for 53 off 36 balls), and Dockrell helped himself, courtesy of two more slogs.

The Hills finished on 245/6 off 50 overs, with nine extras. Byron Vermaak took 2/40 off his ten overs, and Will Lennon a creditable 0/30 off his ten. Dockrell got only nine overs, and took 4/34.

Craig Mallon and Byron Vermaak opened the innings very steadily, and had a bit of luck when the lively Sorensen strained a side muscle, and had to hobble off after 2.5 overs. Bray finished his over. Then Mallon ran himself out, and 23/1 became 30/3 as Joseph Clinton, replacing Bray, had Keeley Todd caught behind, and bowled Jason Molins.

Luke Clinton replaced himself with Albert van der Merwe's off breaks down the hill. Vermaak shouldered arms and was bowled, Ian O'Herlihy wandered so far down the wicket that Barry Archer could fumble the ball and still stump him, and Anton Scholtz popped a catch to sub fielder Malcolm Byrne to reduce Leinster to 54/6.

We had been told that Rush had scored 223 against Malahide (Tipu 96, Shahid 53), which if they could bowl the Villagers out cheaply would do wonders for their Net Run Rate. Given that Leinster were looking at a heavy defeat and a sharp fall in their NRR, were they as safe from relegation as they thought?

The Welsh anorak's fingers twirled over the mobile's keys. Fortunately for you readers, there are no swear words in Welsh – it is, after all, the language of heaven – but some unrepeatable ones came out in Saes as Rush's current NRR comfortably exceeded Leinster's.

Out in the middle, Mark Jones and JP O'Dwyer were surviving, just, Jonesey dementedly reverse swatting an imaginary wasp. Eventually, on 19, he chipped a return catch to van der Merwe, and it was 70/7. Leinster 's best bet was Malahide, who had reached 91/2, 34 runs from taking a bonus point from Rush.

George Dockrell had been promoted to no. 9 on the strength of his efforts the previous day, and played up and down the line. The next score flash came in from Malahide: 123/6! Could they manage another run?

They did, so it wasn't a total disaster when JP was caught for 19 by van der Merwe in the deep off Mike Baumgart's alleged off breaks. Ten runs later Dockrell popped a catch to Bray off Baumy, and it was 108/9. Rob Miley is a pretty good no. 11 (not as good as The Hills no. 11, with or without his brush), and showed it.

He and Will Lennon comfortably got the by now irrelevant bonus point before Miley ran down the wicket to the returning groundsman to be stumped for 12, leaving Lennon on 44* out of 161 all out. van der Merwe took 4/12 off his 10, Joseph Clinton 2/25 off 6 and Mike Baumgart 2/26 off 6.

The Hills were Senior League champions for the first time since 1989. On the field there were two survivors from that side: the groundsman, who allowed himself a smile, and umpire John Andrews, who always smiles.