A couple of weeks ago, Sunday's upcoming SSE Airtricity League clash between Shamrock Rovers and Derry City had the air of a potential title decider.
But the Candystripes' momentum was halted by both Shelbourne and Sligo Rovers in the span of four days over the long weekend with consecutive draws meaning they cannot catch the Hoops at the top and the league title will stay at Tallaght Stadium for a third season in a row.
While Derry still have a chance of silverware in the FAI Cup final on 13 November, Shamrock Rovers still have another objective beyond celebrating title number 20.
Their final home fixture of the Europa Conference League group stage campaign takes place tonight as Belgian side KAA Gent make the trip over. The three games in Tallaght were always likely to be the best source for points.
Thus far, Stephen Bradley's side have collected one point from a possible 12, the home draw against Djurgardens on the opening matchweek.
Since then, they have lost 3-0 at Gent and suffered back-to-back defeats against Molde, with the Shamrock Rovers manager having rotated his squad for those games given they still had to keep one eye firmly fixed on league commitments at the time.
But with the title in the bag, former UCD, Sheffield Wednesday and Hoops midfielder Paul Corry believes tonight is a chance for Bradley to name his strongest side and go all out in search of the club's first ever win in a European group stage.
"I'd be surprised if he went and made any changes based on the team on Friday night," he said on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast of Bradley's selection for last Friday's 4-1 win over St Patrick's Athletic.
"With Gary O'Neill out injured at this moment in time, I think the XI that went out the other night, you could maybe give or take Dylan Watts in for potentially Richie Towell or Chris McCann, (but) I don't really see too many changes.
"I think that is their strongest XI on paper at this moment and probably the strongest XI when you look at the players they have available.
"I think Jack Byrne has probably been a bit unlucky with the extent of the back injury that he's had and maybe him being out injured has meant an opportunity for one or two more."
And he added that for the challenge of facing Gent in their penultimate group game, they now have "breathing room knowing they can put everything into that fixture with the league sown up".
"It's a big opportunity. Stephen Bradley has spoken about European football and qualifying into the group stages on a continuous basis," said Corry.
"It's very important you win the league but also then when you get to that stage, particularly in the group stage, you want to see them picking up points.
"I said it at the beginning of the group, four points would be a great return. In order to do that, they would have to win (against Gent). It would be great to see them do it. Financially it's massive for the club with what it is they can do with their infrastructure both off the pitch and on the pitch, so for that reason it would be very important as well
"But I think most importantly, the benchmark for people who don't really watch the league is European results and we would love to see them go and get a positive one in the group stages."
Watch Shamrock Rovers v Derry City in the SSE Airtricity League live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Sunday from 6.45pm
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