Top two go head to head

HAVING exchanged the roles of cat and mouse over the last couple of games, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians finally come face to face tonight in a much-anticipated and potentially pivotal clash at the Tallaght Stadium.

This is the kind of compelling fixture the embattled League of Ireland badly needs: a big derby game, a renewal of a heated rivalry and a meeting of the top two in the title hunt, all set to be played out in front of a full house of 6,000 – there will be no tickets on sale at the ground – with the live cameras looking on.

Things could hardly be much more finely balanced ahead of tonight’s Dublin derby between two sides who have shared the spoils – one win each and a draw – in their three meetings to date this season. Now, with just seven games to go in the title race, Bohemians hold a one-point lead over their nearest rivals having put their recently faltering league form behind them to impress in a 0-1 win in Derry on Tuesday, as Rovers manager Michael O’Neill, who attended the game at the Brandywell, is the first to acknowledge.

“It would suggest whatever mini-crisis people were talking about no longer exists,” he observes. “But how does it affect their approach to this match? I’m not sure. Do they come to Tallaght and try to get a draw and stay in front by a point or else seek to win and extend their lead to four points? I cannot second-guess Pat Fenlon on that but there’s no doubt that Bohs are the best team in the league at defending leads. I saw that at first hand in Derry.”

For his part, Bohs boss Fenlon says he was “delighted” with the win in the Brandywell, which came through a first league goal for young striker Paddy Madden. “It was a big three points,” Fenlon admits.

However, neither manager is prepared to accept that the outcome tonight will effectively decide the destination of the title.

“Rovers is always a big match, and it’s even bigger now that both of us are at the top of the league,” says Fenlon, “but there is still plenty of football to play afterwards.”

O’Neill agrees with the measured assessment of his counterpart.

“It’s going to be important because obviously if we were to go four points behind with six games left then we are not in as strong a position,” he says.

“But I think there will be more points dropped by both teams. We have tough games away to Derry and home to Cork while Bohemians have to go to Cork as well.

“If you had said to me two weeks ago that Bohs would drop points to Bray and Sligo then I would have said that I could not see that happening. So it’s a very, very important game, there’s no doubt about that, but there is potential for more twists and turns.”

For former Northern Ireland international O’Neill, Rovers’ presence at the business end of the table – however things pan out in the run-in – has added to a first season of deep satisfaction in Tallaght.

“This has been huge for me and has been one of the most enjoyable years I have had in football,” he says. “It has not been the easiest year but in terms of the challenge and meeting the challenge it has been hugely enjoyable. When I came here in January, despite (chairman) Jonathan (Roche) promising me that the stadium would be ready, there were times that I did not believe it when you were looking across from the Maldron Hotel and the ground was still a building site.

“But when we played St Pats here recently there 6,000 people in the ground and then there was the Real Madrid friendly with 11,000 fans in the place. I arrived at a good time.”

Going into tonight’s big game, Ian Bermingham remains the only real injury worry for the Hoops but Paddy Kavanagh comes into the reckoning after returning to training late last week. Sean O’Connor is also in the frame while Darragh Maguire and Pat Sullivan are back after suspension.

The big boost for Pat Fenlon is that, for the first time in a long time, there are no injury worries in the Bohs camp, but the bad news is that suspension rules out three midfield players, Gary Deegan, Anto Murphy and Killian Brennan. Overarching all other issues, however, is the need for both managers to ensure that their charges aren’t distracted by all the hype surrounding this one.

As O’Neill puts it: “The focus is on trying to treat this as any normal game and to ensure that the players do that.”

Fans of domestic football, however, will be entitled to expect something a little out of the ordinary in the shadow of the Dublin mountains this evening.

Meanwhile, the Dublin derby is not the only neighbourly dispute up for settling this evening, as the Louth derby sees third from bottom Drogheda United host Dundalk at United Park. And in another match with significance in the relegation battle, bottom of the table Bray Wanderers travel to Terryland Park to take on Galway United.

All tonight’s Premier Division games kick-off at 7.45pm.