THERE was a time when the Leaving Certificate represented a minor annoyance for schoolboy cricketers, a brief but necessary mid season hiatus. The dreaded "points race" has changed all that, to such an extent that just three final year students avid Bell and Johnnie Murphy from High School and Belvedere's Conor Herbert have found the free time for today's Leinster schools' Senior League final at Anglesea Road.

Up until the mid 1960s, the final was a two innings affair, played until a finish, without any time or overs limitation. A change was eventually deemed necessary after an epic 1965 decider, when Belvedere towards the end of the fourth day's play.

A two day limit was imposed until 1981, when the format was reduced to 50 overs a side.

Few, if any, of the current Belvedere team will be able to remember the last time their school did not make it to the final. That was in 1985, when a five year undefeated sequence came to an end. Since then, they have won five league trophies and finished runners up on the other four occasions.

Belvedere's main rivals in Section A were HFDLS Skerries, who were beaten at Milverton by 47 runs. Losing by two runs to King's Hospital last Wednesday came as a surprise, but they still qualified on superior bonus points.

The batting, with Kevin O'Malley, Shane Moore and Andrew Dunne all playing regular senior club cricket, is probably their strength. Dunne and Trevor Forbes have both produced one impressive return during the campaign, but their bowling may still lack High School's consistency.

Murphy, Graham and regularly as High School have won all their matches bowling first. They also have a particularly strong opening partnership in David Bell and Ross Wynne, who scored 79 for Railway Union in a recent league match at Rush.

Belvedere won on the last occasion the schools met in a final, in 1991, following a comprehensive win by High School in the previous year.