Shamrock Rovers central defender Sean Hoare believes the SSE Airtricity Premier Division is already a two-horse race and he's hoping to see his side put some distance between themselves and Derry City.
The Candystripes travel to Tallaght Stadium on Friday, trailing Rovers by a point, having recently held a six-point lead over the champions.
St Patrick’s Athletic are eight points further back in third place and despite the season still not being at the half-way mark, Derry look like the only team that can prevent Rovers' third consecutive title.
When asked whether he views the title as a two-horse race, he replied: "It does look like that at the moment.
"I suppose when you look back at this time last year there were clubs challenging that fell away and a lot can change over the next two thirds of the league.
"Derry are flying at the moment but so are we and we relish the challenge."
The Candystripes made a statement of intent in the first encounter between the two sides this season as they claimed a 2-1 victory at the Brandywell, courtesy of a Jamie McGonigle winner in injury-time.
However Derry travel to Tallaght without the services of two of the most important players with both Michael Duffy and Patrick McEleney side-lined through injury.
While Hoare admits that both players are a loss for Derry, he believes they have the squad depth to cope.
"They’ve a bit of depth in the squad and I don’t think one or two injuries will affect them too much but players of that quality are hard to replace as well," he said.
"Maybe we’re catching them at a good time but it’s all well and good saying that but we still play them on Friday and they’ve depth in their squad to come in and replace those lads."
Looking beyond Friday night’s encounter, Hoare is eager for Rovers' European campaign to get underway.
The Dublin side will be seeded for the first round of the Champions League qualifiers and, having already experienced a deep European run with Dundalk, Hoare is confident that Rovers can make a big mark in Europe this season.
"I think the depth we have in this squad is amazing, if you’re off it for even 10 minutes in a game you’ll be taken off and it’s hard to get your place back.
"I think that depth is the same as what we had at Dundalk and hopefully we can live up to it and do the things that Dundalk did.
"I don’t envy the manager’s job because it’s a bit of a double-edged sword – you’ve such a good squad but you also have to keep everyone happy.
"He seems to be doing a job of it now, everyone is in line and everyone knows their role. Obviously there’s a few unhappy heads on Friday when game time comes around but everyone’s excited and delighted to be involved with such a special group."
Watch Shamrock Rovers v Derry City in the SSE Airtricity League live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Friday night (7.45pm) or follow via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app
