A one-point deduction for a slow bowling rate back at the start of the Senior League campaign ultimately tumbled Clontarf into Section B at Rathmines yesterday as Leinster brought the season to a grim and tense close to win by five wickets and maintain their Section A status.

That status was preserved by the narrowest of margins - a final tally of 140 points compared to Clontarf's 139. Leinster might easily have won the battle; but lost the war, for if Clontarf had taken just one more wicket they would still be in Section A and Leinster would have celebrated a hollow victory last night.

But Leinster's Peter Byrne and Paul Cron kept their heads after Richie Waddell, fifth man out, had departed in the 49th over with the score on 114. The 20 runs they put on were obviously invaluable, and Byrne's winning shot - a boundary off Brian Nolan from the last ball of the 54th over - was brave indeed.

When Brian McNeice had won the toss, and opted to bat, a premature end seemed nigh as Clontarf teetered on 85 for 8, the slide beginning with the successive departures of the skipper and Johnny Daly with only 75 scored. Then undefeated top scorer Keith Spellman (24) and Johnny Barry put on a face-saving 34 for the ninth wicket, and Spellman and Michael Ryan added a useful 14 for the 10th. Cron, Ray McDonnell and Waddell did the bowling damage.

The dismissals of Mark Jones, Johnny Byrne and Peter Johnson for just 49 by the 20th over, kept Clontarf's hopes very much alive, as did the subsequent departure of the steadfast Joe Byrne and Waddell. But Leinster's sang froid was admirable. As the evening closed and the season ended, it just seemed ironic that two such major clubs were involved in a relegation battle.