This season six wins might be enough to remain above the relegation zone, but it is still mathematically possible - though unlikely - for one of the teams with 24 points to accompany the long-doomed Armagh into Section Three in 2009. Currently, Dundrum, with just four wins, are most people's choice to be demoted after winning the second promotion ticket behind Saintfield last season. They still have four games to play, but fitting them in ahead of the finish of the season on September 30 will be a huge problem, compounded by the fact that the villagers' home ground will be not available again for the remainder of the campaign.

Laurelvale are one of the teams with six wins, and on their home ground this Saturday they face a difficult task against Ballymena, who were confirmed as champions following the second postponement of the Dundrum-Woodvale game on Sunday. Next Sunday Laurelvale host Muckamore and are due to end their season by hosting Ballymena - the Eaton Park team's "home" match - on Friday, September 26.

Muckamore, whose outstanding home match against Holywood has been pencilled in for Sunday week, secured an ultimately comfortable victory against Laurelvale that was set up by some devastating pace and spin bowling from Richard Keates and Trevor Neill.

There was no hint of the drama ahead as Ranjit Pandy and Charlie McCrum, the Laurelvale openers, made 65 together. But after the club's professional became the first of Neill's four victims, and McCrum was bowled by Jason Van Der Merwe at the same score, the Laurelvale innings went into freefall, with Keates, the last of the seven bowlers deployed, posting his best figures of the season. In five overs and five balls, he sent back five batsman for a mere eight runs and Laurelvale, incredibly, were dismissed for 91. Wayne Pearson, who scored 10 batting at No. 3, was the only other player to reach double figures.

Leslie Allen, the Muckamore captain, revealed that he was going to take Neill out of the attack after he conceded 15 runs in his first two overs. But he didn't and the off-spinner responded with the key wicket of Pandy in his next over, going on to return figures of four-for-29 in nine overs.

Brian Dunlop hit an unbeaten 25 and Simon Thompson, victim of a dubious lbw decision, and Van Der Merwe each scored 17 as Muckamore won by five wickets with 8.1 overs to spare.

On Friday, rain came to Muckamore's rescue in their reduced-overs match against Ballymena. The Moylena men looked like posting a challenging total when, largely due to the efforts of Conor Breet, who in his unfamiliar role of opener scored 53 [five boundaries], they advanced to 80 for two in 26 overs. But they collapsed to 119 for eight at the end of their allotted 35 overs. Two wayward overs by Neil Gill and Keates saw Ballymena clip 19 runs off their target before the weather, which had been glorious earlier, deteriorated.