There were National Hurling League titles for Down, Mayo and Louth on Saturday afternoon.
A late scoring burst for Down was enough to see them lift the Division 2 title ahead of Kildare in Inniskeen.
Tim Prenter scored an injury-time goal to wrap up a 4-22 to 3-17 win, but the game was much closer than the final scoreline would suggest.
A freak Marc Fisher goal was key to Down getting over the line after launched a free from just outside his own 45 in the 62nd minute that somehow hopped through the Kildare defence and bounced over goalkeeper Paddy McKenna into the net.
That put Ronan Sheehan’s side two points ahead, their first lead since the 18th minute, and although David Qualter halved that lead with the next score, Down were able to take the game away from Kildare by scoring the next four points.
They made sure of the win with a counter attacking goal in the 75th minute when Ronan Beatty sent Prenter racing away from the Kildare defence and he neatly finished his shot under the body of the advancing McKenna.
Although it was those late scores that proved decisive, a lot of the hard work was done by Down in the first half, going into the break just two points behind despite playing into a very strong wind.
The early exchanges were nip and tuck with never more than a point behind the sides in the opening quarter but Jack Sheridan fired home the first goal of the game in the 18th minute to make it 1-7 to 0-8.
From there, Kildare pushed on and scored points through Qualter, Paul Dolan and James Burke to go five points ahead.
Rather than wilting under the pressure and seeing the lead grow, Down scored the last three points of the half to cut the deficit back to 1-10 to 0-11.
Kildare flew out of the traps in the early stages of the second half and another Sheridan goal 45 seconds after the restart was followed by Darragh Melville’s strike in the 38th minute that left the score at 3-10 to 0-13
Qualter tagged on a point but Down struck back again and a Tom McGrattan goal sparked a run of 1-4 for them to tie the game again.
Kildare were able to fashion a three-point lead from there but once again the teams were level when McGrattan hit the net for a second time in the 54th minute.
There was just a point scored at either end in the next eight minutes as the tension began to mount before Fisher’s fortunate goal gave Down some breathing room and from there took on a run that ultimately settled the game in their favour.
At Manguard Park, Mayo clinched the Division 3 title with a 0-14 to 1-8 win over a wasteful London.
London had a strong wind behind them in the first half and scored a goal through Conor O’Carroll to lead 1-5 to 0-4 at half time despite striking eight wides in the opening half.
They hit eight further wides in the second half as Shane Boland led the Mayo comeback.
Boland brought his tally to seven as Liam Lavin and Eoin Delaney also got on the scoresheet to open up a four-point lead.
David Devine pulled a point back for London and they had a chance of a last-gasp equalising goal but Jack Morrissey fired wide.
In the Division 4 decider, Louth completed their successful league campaign with a 0-16 to 1-8 win over Fermanagh with Darren Geoghegan putting in a decisive effort to claim nine points to help see his side to the title.
