Leinster's emphatic 67-run win over North West at Malahide and Munster's rather less predictable success against North at The Mardyke yesterday means that the match between the two victors in Cork on July 4th will be a play-off for this season's Interprovincial Championship. Peter Davy's excellent 106 was the feature of Leinster's innings after they had batted first, the other main contributors being Barry Archer and Ed and Gus Joyce.

When rain stopped play with the score on 227 for 2 after 40.5 overs, Davy was three runs short of his century; for him, lunch can hardly have been a relaxing repast, though he deservedly got his hundred soon after the resumption. The match was then reduced to 46 overs, and when Mark Olphert was run out with just a single on the board and John Davy then clean-bowled the ebullient Stephen Smyth 30 runs on, it was clear that only a big individual innings would save North West.

That didn't happen and not even the gutsy Gordon Cooke (34) and skipper Peter Gillespie (29) could rescue a cause, which cannot have been helped by the long night journey their squad had to make on Saturday, arriving in Dublin in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Joey Morrissey (2 for 26 off 8) and Matt Dwyer (2 for 34 off 10) bowled well for Leinster; earlier, Richie McDaid (3 for 51) had been North West's most successful wicket-taker.