The weekend's SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division action was not a satisfying one for title favourites Shamrock Rovers and Derry City as both marked the halfway point of the league season with 1-0 defeats.
With 18 games gone and another 18 to come for the two sides, not much separates them in the table with Derry one point clear of the Hoops.
The Candystripes might have hoped that they could take advantage of Shamrock Rovers' slip-up at Cork City where the reigning champions had three players sent off on Friday night.
However, Derry also ended up losing on the road to what had been an out-of-sorts Sligo Rovers on Saturday in what proved to be a missed opportunity.
Speaking on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast, former UCD and Shamrock Rovers midfielder Paul Corry and ex-Dundalk striker David McMillan highlighted the small issues that they feel are holding back the two contenders
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"I'm sure Shamrock Rovers are shocked that they're only still one point behind Derry considering how many points they've dropped," said Corry.
"And I'm sure Ruaidhri (Higgins) was thinking at the back of his mind that this was maybe not a must-win game but a huge opportunity to just extend that gap between themselves and Shamrock Rovers, particularly with the form that Derry have shown in the last number of weeks and the form that Sligo have shown going a bit in reverse.
"You felt Derry would have had enough going up there to at least pick up a point and just extend that gap but it's a huge opportunity missed."
McMillan felt the loss at the Showgrounds highlighted up front as a "problem area" for Derry especially with Colm Whelan sidelined after briefly returning to good effect from the lengthy injury lay-off that had kept him out for the early part his Candystripes career.
"Derry didn't create much despite having large swathes of possession," he said.
"I think they had one shot on target across the whole game. Ollie O'Neill started up front, probably not a natural striker and you have (Jamie) McGonigle and Cian Kavanagh on the bench, two strikers.
"All of the three have scored one this season. I think Colm Whelan has played a total of 90 minutes but has managed to get two goals, so I think that's something Ruaidhri is probably going to have to try and address in the summer because they need a striker who's going to get them 10-15 goals at least."
For Shamrock Rovers, who will play Dundalk live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player this Friday night, Corry believes being more clinical in putting opposition teams away is the key as well as avoiding disciplinary issues that have seen them incur half a dozen red cards.
"They've probably had one too many occasions where sendings-off have really hampered their performances and results," he said.
"I think they're playing well in games without putting teams to bed and they're probably having sloppy spells. That's really costing them.
"But when they reflect on how many games they've played, how many points they've dropped, I'm sure they'll be amazed that they're not further behind Derry City."
Watch the UEFA European Under-17 Championship final on Friday from 6.55pm on the RTÉ News channel and RTÉ Player; Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk in the League of Ireland on Friday from 7.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on all matches on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app; and the Women's Champions League final, Barcelona v Wolfsberg, on Saturday from 2.55pm on the RTÉ News channel and RTÉ Player
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