Cork City can complete a remarkable turnaround this evening as they travel to Oriel Park to take on Dundalk knowing that their title fate is in their own hands, (kick-off 7.05pm).
Watch Dundalk v Cork City live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 7pm
A win for City would see them leapfrog the defending champions into top spot and leave them with a two-point advantage with five remaining league games, all against teams in the lower half of the Premier Division.
Dundalk have the tougher run-in and even if they were to overcome Cork this evening, they still have to travel to Tallaght to face European hopefuls Shamrock Rovers along with a potential banana skin against Bohemians.
That home game with Bohemians comes on the back of a Europa League clash with Russian side Zenit St Petersburg and while both Dundalk and Cork face a hectic schedule of five league games in two weeks, the Lilywhites title push is further hindered by their European exploits.
Form is with City, who have been red hot in recent weeks and crucially have emerged victorious from each of the three games in which they’ve met the defending Champions this season.
In August, Cork had been written off. They had been in the midst of a poor sequence of results which saw them with just one win in five games as they drifted out of the title picture.
The Rebels had bowed out of the Europa League, suffering a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Belgian side Genk and were to go on and feel the effect of a European hangover, losing at home to Sligo before dropping points against Derry and Bohemians.
Teams for tonight's clash with @CorkCityFC pic.twitter.com/KGHUNvKnjR
— Dundalk FC (@DundalkFC) October 11, 2016
Two games against Longford Town in the space of a week proved to be the turning point for City however as a confidence boosting 4-1 FAI Cup victory stopped the rot before a 5-2 win at Turner’s Cross moved the Rebels to second in the league, four points behind Dundalk.
John Caulfield’s men haven’t looked back since then, winning six of their seven league games with a scoreless draw against Sligo Rovers the only blot on their copybook.
Cork have been scoring goals for fun in that time, netting an average of more than three goals per-game and they blasted their way back into the title race.
Dundalk meanwhile have been doing very well to keep things ticking over as they challenge on domestic and European fronts but there has always been the concern that so many major games throughout the season would catch up with them.
The Lilywhites have been at full tilt for most of the season, and eventually there is a cumulative toil that is going to be felt by the players.
Saturday’s shock 3-0 defeat at home to Sligo was the first of eight games that Stephen Kenny’s men will play in the space of three weeks and the momentum may be just drifting away from them.
The Dundalk boss appears to recognise this and is hoping that the home support can prove to be the difference between the sides tonight and that the Oriel Park faithful can play a genuine role.
"These are great occasions to be a part of. They are great matches for everyone. Our supporters can inspire us here at Oriel Park. They have inspired us so many times before," he said.
"This group of players have answered every question that has been asked of them over the last couple of seasons. Every question. They have shown immense character on a consistent basis and we will need to show that again."
Skipper Stephen O'Donnell meanwhile believes that Dundalk can draw on their past experience and pointed to their title victory in 2014 when they clinched the title on the final day of the season with a 2-0 win over Cork at Oriel Park.
"We’re still a point ahead," he said. "They’ll be coming here with a bit of momentum after winning 5-0 in Galway but it’s about the 90 minutes and we’ll be ready.
"We were in a similar position a couple of years ago. We lost out on top spot going into the last game of the season against Cork and we won it. It’s a huge game and there’ll be no need to get motivated for it. We just have to dust ourselves down and get ready for it."
If Dundalk can retain their crown, there is no doubt it would be their finest domestic achievement under Kenny, given all the distractions that have been put in front of them.
But it is hard to shake the feeling that Cork will get the result they need tonight and go on to stop their rival’s three-in-a-row bid.
