State Of Play: Energia All-Ireland League Relegation and Qualification

State Of Play: Energia All-Ireland League Relegation and Qualification

With just one round to play in the Men’s Divisions of the Energia All-Ireland League, the picture is becoming clearer on what promotion and relegation will look like at the end of the season.

Click Here For Full Energia All-Ireland League Fixtures

Click Here For Full Energia All-Ireland League Tables

Who Can Be Crowned Energia All-Ireland League Champions This Season?

The Energia All-Ireland League Semi-Finals will take place on Saturday April 23rd. Clontarf will finish top of Division 1A (Currently in 1st place on 72pts and 13 points clear of 2nd place) and will have a home semi-final against the fourth place team. The fourth place team will be either Cork Constitution (Currently in 4th place with 51 pts) or Dublin University (Currently in 5th place with 49 pts).

The other semi-final will be between Terenure College (Currently in 2nd place on 59pts) and Lansdowne (Currently in 3rd place on 57pts) at the venue of the team which is confirmed as finishing in second place.

Relevant Fixtures:

Terenure College (2nd) v UCC (10th)
Cork Constitution (4th) v Lansdowne (3rd)
Garryowen (7th) v Dublin University (5th)

What Junior Club Can Be Promoted To The Energia All-Ireland League this season?

Due to the impact of COVID-19 in the earlier stages of the season, only one team will be promoted and one team will be relegated from each division. This means only one Junior team can qualify for Division 2C for the 2022/23 season.

To facilitate this the round-robin format was replaced with a semi-finals and a final promotion playoff. Both semi-finals were played in Navan RFC with Bective Rangers beating Connemara 40-17 and Instonians beating Newcastle West 38-6.

Bective Rangers will play Instonians in Dundalk RFC on Saturday April 9th. The winner of that tie will be playing in Division 2C of the Energia All-Ireland League next season.

The rest of this article will look at the teams fighting for survival. A piece on the remaining promotion hopefuls will be published tomorrow. 

Who Can Be Relegated?

Teams that finish 9th and 10th in each of the five divisions will play each other over two games with the losing side dropping out of their division. The team that loses the Division 2C playoff will be relegated from the league.

Relegation Play-Off Finals take place April 23rd and April 30th with 8 teams already confirmed to be involved. Ballynahinch will play UCC in Division 1A. Nenagh Ormond will face Rainey Old Boys in Division 2A. Ballina play Galwegians in Division 2B.

Either Banbridge or Malone will face Navan be in the Division 1B Relegation Play Off. Either Sundays Well or City of Derry will play Clonmel for survival in Division 2C.

The team that finishes 10th in the table plays at home in the first leg and away in the second leg.

Division 1A:

Ballynahinch (Currently 9th on 11pts) vs UCC (Currently 10th on 7pts)

Both Ballynahinch and UCC are confirmed for the Division 1A Relegation Playoff. Their final placings will be determined this weekend.

Relevant Round 18 Fixtures: Ballynahinch (9th) v Young Munster (6th); Terenure College (2nd) v UCC (10th)

Division 1B:

Navan (Currently 10th on 18 pts) vs Banbridge (Currently 9th 23 pts) or Malone (Currently 8th on 27 pts)

Navan are all but mathematically confirmed as finishing in 10th place due to their inferior points difference, meaning they would have home advantage in the first leg on April 23rd. Banbridge are in 9th place on 23 points, 4 points behind 8th place Malone on 27 points. All other teams are safe.

Relevant Round 18 Fixtures: Navan (10th) v Malone (8th); City of Armagh (6th) v Banbridge (9th)

Division 2A:

Nenagh Ormond (Currently 9th on 23 pts) vs Rainey Old Boys (Currently 10th on 22 pts)

Both Nenagh Ormond and Rainey Old Boys are confirmed for the Division 2A Relegation Playoff. Their final placings will be determined this weekend.

Relevant Round 18 Fixtures: MU Barnhall (5th) v Nenagh Ormond (9th); Old Crescent (6th) v Rainey Old Boyes (10th).

Division 2B:

Ballina (Confirmed 9th on 22 pts) vs Galwegians (Confirmed 10th on 11 pts)

Final placings are confirmed. Galwegians will host Ballina on April 23rd. Ballina have home advantage in the second leg on April 30th.

Division 2C:

Clonmel (Confirmed 10th) vs City Of Derry (Currently 9th on 26 pts) or Sundays Well (Currently 8th on 28 pts)

Clonmel are confirmed as the 10th place team and will have home advantage on April 23rd against either City Of Derry or Sundays Well.

Relevant Round 18 Fixtures: Clonmel (10th) v Sundays Well (8th), City Of Derry (9th) v Tullamore (4th)

What determines league position?

As per AIL regulations, final placings will be determined by the following criteria in the following order:

League Points
Points Difference
Most Wins
Most Draws
Most Tries Scored
Head To Head
Playoff

Click here for link to AIL Regulations 2021/22

What if the relegation playoffs finish level after two games?

 If clubs are tied on aggregate after the second game, extra time of 10 minutes each way shall be played.

If still tied, the club who has scored more tries over both matches shall be the winner.

If still tied, the team who scored the first try in the first match shall be the winner.

If no tries have been scored in either game, the team that scored the first points in the first match shall be the winner.

If aggregate score is 0-0 after extra time in the second match, penalty kicks shall be taken to decide the winner.

 

 

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