cliché: at the end of the day

Meaning: the bottom line, in the final analysis (definition).

Example: 1+1 will always equal 2, at the end of the day. (Examples.)

Origins: Seems to have been first used in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) but first recorded uses in print were from the 1950s onward (source). Saw a rapid rise in usage from 1985 onward (source).

Rewrites:

• as day closes
• as the final seconds tick away
• faced to choose at the midnight hour
• when debate time ends
• lacking extended time for flags and penalties
• at end of official play
• as you time out

Discussion: You might think of ways to recast this idiom other than the time metaphor, but for this rewrite I have maintained that theme.