I had only been in the Village once all summer, so when I looked at the fixtures and noted that both of Malahide's home fixtures would have a large bearing on the outcome at the top of Section B, I was only too happy to take two morning trips round the M50, up the M1 and down the right bank of the Broadmeadow estuary.

The first morning I arrived to find that Malahide had won the toss and asked Phoenix to set a score on the low, slow track that will happily become outfield for next season. Matt Plunkett-Cole and Rory Flanagan batted positively against Matt Daykin and Phil Markey. Rory had a bit of luck when he was dropped by Jimmy Govan at slip off Markey, and the pair compiled a partnership that passed fifty.

Then Callum Riches, who had replaced Markey from the road end, found a nice line and length, first trapping Nat King Cole lbw for 31 and in the next over bowling Flanagan for 31. Ted Williamson, on loan from Cork Harlequins, had already shown his fitness by demolishing a wooden bench whilst sitting on it talking to me.

He survived a second scare, being put down off his own bowling by Glenn Kirwan, and poked around for a couple of overs before whipping a ball from Riches off his pads straight to Pete Saville at mid wicket. Andrew Downton nicked off to give Riches his Guildford Four-for and leave Phoenix 79-4.

The Park men simply had to win this match to stand any chance of promotion, and David Langford Smith and Conor Kelly, not for the first time this season, tried to dig their team out of the doo-dah. Lanky dropped one at his feet, called the single, and accidentally kicked the ball straight to the bowler, who happily ran out the marooned Kelly.

I can think of quite a few batsmen who would have turned quickly back into their crease, looked over their shoulder and said 'You called the run, mate, you can run it on your Todd Sloan.' But Polly is one of cricket's nice guys, and took the rap for his buddy. Skipper Corie Dickeson hung around for a dozen overs while Lanky slowly got into biff mode.

Then Corie nicked off – a good catch by Fintan McAllister standing up – for 11, and Lanky was bowled by Daykin for 41. That was 136-6 in the 45th over, and Paddy Conliffe (15*) did a good job adding another 31 runs with Vish Vaiyanathan and Stevie Neill for Phoenix to finish on 167-9. Riches took 4/27 off his ten, and Daykin 1/27. Glenda Kirwan deserves credit for his seven overs for fourteen.

Andrew Downton obviously had enjoyed his tea as much as I did, and blasted out Callum Riches, Fintan McAllister and Jim Govan, getting more nip than had any of the Malahide bowlers. John Pryor played all round one from Lanky that went between his pads and the stumps for four byes, and hung on in while Daykin blocked out Downton and played some really nice shots at the other end, especially off the back foot.

JP survived for a dozen overs for 6 before falling lbw to Flanagan. Daykin reached fifty then went into his shell, and was trapped lbw by a beauty from Kelly for 56 out of 102 in the 29th over. Neil Boyne was caught behind two balls later, and Phoenix were back in with a sniff of promotion. Nick Turner and Phil Markey got their heads down, but always looked for the chance of a boundary.

Turner batted really well, Markey chanced his arm, and they added 63 in eleven overs of substandard bowling before Markey had a swing and a miss to be bowled for 23. Turner finished the game off in the 43rd over with 52*. Downton was excellent value for his 3/11 off ten, but the rest of the bowling was far too loose to create any pressure.

I survived the disappointment of Arsenal playing the Red Scum out of the theatre of dreams but losing to two stupid self-inflicted goals. Phoenix too must have been sad to see their chance of promotion vanish, but they're just not good enough, despite the efforts of their top notch pro. However, are the Gunners good enough? Watch this space next April!

Next morning it was groundhog day as the Villagers inserted YMCA and met some positive opening batting, this time from Reinhardt Strydom. Then Daykin got one to whip in to Rainy, keep very low and have him lbw for 27 out of 28. The living legends pottered another 26 runs before Alan Lewis slogged Kirwan to Daykin at mid off for 11.

Stu McCready clattered rather than pottered, but unsuccessfully, skying one off Glenda to the skipper. Angus Dunlop was dropped by Neil Boyne on 17, and Paul Beacroft would have been given out caught behind first ball after a rain break at 86-3 off 25 overs had Fintan McAllister caught it. He did hole out for 10 out of 100 in the 32nd over, and James Parkinson continued with the aerial route, surviving a drop by Markey.

More rain caused an early tea, but Gussie, meantime, had begun to enjoy himself, and while never his fluent self of ten years ago, found the boundary with increasing frequency, passed fifty, and lost Parkinson, caught by Boyne off Govan for 24. 145-4 became 154-7 as McCoy and Quirke came and went, but Johan van der Vlei batted sensibly to add 38 in four overs.

Van Rental was bowled by Daykin for 16, young Hohn went similarly for zip, and Warwick Armstrong, though he didn't score, saw Gussie get to 92* and his team to 200-9 off 50. Daykin returned 4/59 off his ten and Govan 2/45, but the tightest bowling came from Riches (0/18) and Kirwan (2/26).

There was more rain extending the interval between innings, and reducing the target to 174 off 38. Malahide knew that Rush had gained their expected victory over CYM, and so had to win to prevent second place coming down to who did better in the remaining fixtures against Old Belvedere.

The start was dreadful. After 9 overs they were 29/4, Riches slogging at Strydom, McAllister caught behind off Parkinson, Govan running himself out and John Pryor falling to a superb, low, left-handed catch at slip by Alan Lewis. Lewie was booked for doing a lap of honour and throwing his shirt into the crowd.

Yet again skipper Markey had to dig his team out of trouble, this time with Daykin. The two put on 90 in 18 overs mixing big hits with well-taken singles. Wazza should have caught and bowled his opposite number for 9, but he unaccountably hit the deck as Phil shelled one back at teeth height. Surely Wazza knows that his PRSI payments cover dental care! And his VHI would cover facial reconstruction.

Markey finally swung at Parkinson and missed to be bowled (haven't I said that before?) for 32. The left-handed Neil Boyne battled well for 19 out of a stand of 40, being caught behind off Strydom with three overs to go. The asking rate had stayed at fives for a long time, and six were wanted off the last over after Daykin was finally caught behind off Strydom for a fine 89.

Andy Pyne took a single to bring Kevin Price on strike. Pricey, older than me, was only playing because there was no-one else, and he's emigrating to Oz in the autumn. Biggles played two immaculate defensive shots, then his trademark lofted straight drive for four, then ran himself out. Pete Saville nurdled a single off the last ball and Malahide were very warm favourites to accompany YMCA into the top division.

Once there, both teams will need to strengthen their backup bowling, especially YMCA. Parkinson's eight yielded 3/28, Strydom's 3/22 and Smacker's 0/24. The other 14, shared by Beekers, Wazza and Gussie went for 82 and lost them the match.