CLUB RUGBY
FOLLOWING a one-month break in which the Bank of Ireland Provincial Towns Cup took centre stage, the focus returns this coming weekend to the Leinster League as action resumes with the Division 2A clash between Edenderry and Newbridge in Carbury getting proceedings under way tonight.
There are four Division 1A games on the agenda tomorrow and with three series of matches remaining Ashbourne enjoy a healthy five-point lead over their nearest pursuers Enniscorthy while Dundalk are a further two points in arrears.
Ashbourne make the short journey over the border to Drogheda to take on fourth-placed Boyne at Shamrock Lodge and they will be aiming to repeat their October success in the reverse fixture when they claimed the maximum haul of five points in a 31-0 win.
At this juncture of the campaign it is Ashbourne’s league to lose but they’ll be wary heading to their nearby rivals as in their last two Division 1A games Boyne won in Dundalk and drew at home with Enniscorthy but the Louth club still probably need one more win to stay clear of the relegation play-off position.
Enniscorthy are also on the road, travelling to Sydney Parade to tackle in-form bottom-of-the-table Monkstown who have won three in a row to give themselves an outside chance of survival.
The Dubliners are six points adrift of seventh place which would earn them a relegation play-off as distinct to their current plight which would see them automatically relegated and their recent form will ensure that Enniscorthy will be wary.
Dundalk are also away tomorrow as they face Wicklow in Ashtown Lane in a game that neither can afford to lose for widely different reasons; the visitors’ slim title prospects would dissipate with a loss while the hosts, who are in fifth place, are embroiled in a four-way battle to avoid the relegation play-off and are a mere two points clear of seventh place.
The remaining fixture is a massive game in the ever-changing skirmish to avoid the Division 1A relegation play-off spot and Kirwan Park is the venue when sixth-placed De La Salle Palmerston entertain Gorey, whom they lead by a single point.
Suttonians enjoy a four-point lead atop Division 1B and the north city club hosts third-placed Longford, whom they lead by six points, at Station Road on Sunday in a vital clash that could go a long way to deciding the title or it could blow the league wide open.
Second-placed Kilkenny host fifth-placed North Kildare at Foulkstown in a must win game for the home club.