Cork City centre-half Alan Bennett has warned his team-mates they need to find their "killer instinct" to have any hope of pipping Dundalk to the Airtricity League Premier Division title.
John Caulfield's men swept past Galway United 5-3 on Tuesday night to keep the heat on the table-topping Lilywhites.
With Cork now four points behind the reigning champions, their Oriel Park meeting in a fortnight is likely to be a season-defining collision.
For Bennett, any more lapses - like the ones that allowed the outplayed Tribesmen to plunder three goals at Turner's Cross - will be fatal.
"We maybe tired a bit in the second half, came off the pace a bit," the 34-year-old said.
"We’ve got to have that real killer instinct. If you want to be champions you’ve got to nail those [games] down and finish them off."
After a scoreless draw in Sligo on Sunday night it was imperative Cork picked up three points on their own patch against Galway.
To come here after a long trip at the weekend and to get the three points, we’re happy.
The trip to the Showgrounds came after a visit to Finn Harps, where Cork won 1-0, and Bennett admits the travelling took a lot of the players.
"I suppose we’ve had two monster away trips where we’ve travelled half the country," he said.
"It does take its toll, it absolutely does, I don’t care what anyone says. When you go up and down the country you’re not getting the night’s sleep back. To come here after a long trip at the weekend and to get the three points, we’re happy."
A break from league action sees Cork travel to St Pat's on Sunday in the FAI Cup semi-final as they look to return to the Aviva Stadium, the scene of their extra-time 1-0 defeat to Dundalk last year.
“We’ve Pat’s next Sunday in the Cup, so that’ll be the one we’ll prepare for next and then we’ll move on after that," added Bennett.
"That’ll be a big game and hopefully there’ll be a massive Cork contingent that will travel up and the exiles will come out in Dublin to support us and it will be a good day."
