Not quite end game for League of Ireland with one foot in next season

By Liam Mackey

“No game is a ‘dead rubber’ in my book and even if it’s only pride at stake at times then so be it.”

So says Derry City boss Kenny Shiels as his side heads to Richmond Park to take on St Patrick’s Athletic tonight. Pride might indeed be what is mostly at stake in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division as it takes its final bow of 2018 but there is also a sense that, for the majority of clubs, 7.45pm tonight will mark the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.

Pat’s, with Harry Kenny this week appointed the managerial successor to Liam Buckley, epitomise the notion of a team with one foot in the season just ending and another in the new one to come.

And Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley, whose side travel to the Showgrounds where Buckley will be the next man at the helm for Sligo Rovers, has even admitted that he will have to factor in the prospect of yellow cards ruling out players for the opening game of 2019 into his selection for tonight’s match.

For Cork City and Dundalk their final league outings are a prelude to one of the biggest games of the year as the great rivals meet again in the FAI Cup final on Sunday week.

While City gear up for that glamour fixture, in stark contrast their opponents Bray Wanderers will be bidding farewell to top-flight football at Turner’s Cross this evening and preparing for life in the First Division next season.

And, with the Cup final just over a week away, City boss John Caulfield doesn’t want his side to take the foot off the pedal. “Over the last few weeks, we have been winning games and keeping clean sheets,” he says.

The competition for places is good, we have had good intensity and we have had some very good performances over the last month or so, and we want to continue that.

Champions Dundalk are away to Bohemians who, also thinking long-term, announced yesterday that manager Keith Long has signed a new three-year deal.

The remaining Premier Division game sees Waterford at home to Limerick but, for the latter, it’s other battles, on and off the pitch, which overshadow tonight’s game at the RSC. Last Monday, the High Court adjourned for three weeks an application by the Revenue Commissioners to wind up the club while next Monday they play the first leg of their promotion/relegation play-off against Finn Harps in Finn Park, with the second leg four days later at the Markets Field.

So it’s safe to say there’s far more than pride at stake before a tumultuous season ends for the Shannonsiders.

Tonight’s SSE Airtricity League fixtures (all 7.45pm):

Bohemians v Dundalk, Dalymount Park; Cork City v Bray Wanderers, Turners Cross; St. Patrick’s Athletic v Derry City, Richmond Park; Sligo Rovers v Shamrock Rovers, The Showgrounds; Waterford v Limerick, RSC.