Tonight begins a busy early March for the Premier Division sides with four rounds of fixtures before St Patrick's Day.
The obvious theme after two games played is how competitive the league will be with no 100% win record remaining.
The champions Shamrock Rovers fell to a surprise defeat to Shelbourne last week and it gives two of their likely rivals, Derry City and St Patrick’s Athletic, the chance to show their credentials when they clash at the Ryan McBride Brandywell (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
Shels may well emerge as a big contender to the four-in-a-row winners as they face a testing trip to Sligo this evening.
The Hoops will be confident of returning to winning ways at Tallaght Stadium against a Drogheda United side that struggled defensively last week.
The two newly-promoted sides Galway United and Waterford will clash at Eamonn Deacy Park having taken well to life back in the top flights. The Blues head the table while United shocked Dundalk last week.
Bohs and the Lilywhites is the final game of the night at Dalymount Park. Amid lots of squad changes and rancour among supporters, there has been positives and negatives for the clubs so far. More will be learned on how they will fare this season in the clash in north Dublin.
Kick-off in all games is 7.45pm, including at the Brandywell where the RTE cameras will be present.
Derry City v St Patrick’s Athletic, Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, 7.45pm
Derry can look forward to meeting the holders of the FAI Cup and league title over the next three days.
After a frustrating night in Sligo last week where there was little in the way of goalmouth action, it might be a different story back on their home patch.
The clash with Pat's is the focus for manager Ruadihri Higgins
"You have to embrace this type of challenge" he said, when asked about the schedule.
"That's why we’re in the game. You want to be involved in these big fixtures.
"It’s part of being a successful team, trying to navigate a way through those fixtures and double-headers.
"Our only thought at the minute is trying to get three points against a very good side on Friday night."
City had good news on the injury front with Patrick McEleney and Cameron Dummigan. They will not feature in this game, however.
"We were able to bring Jordan McEneff and Adam O'Reilly off the bench at the weekend and they are two quality young players in their own right.
"I’m more than happy with the options we have going into the Pat's game."
Pat's had a setback in losing their opening home league game so the trip north is not exactly tantalising.
However, manager Jon Daly is pleased to be back on the pitch after the manner of the late defeat.
"We need to go into the game with optimism and confidence and make sure that we acquit ourselves really well and give ourselves the best chance of coming away with three points.
"Derry are one of the few teams in the league that haven't had much upheaval.
"They've got some fantastic players within their squad that will pose a challenge to us.
"We always bring a good travelling support, and they have a good home support up there, so the atmosphere will be very good and it's on TV too.
"It's one that myself, the staff and the players are looking forward to."
Tom Grivosti (knee and hamstring) is the only absentee for the visitors.
Shamrock Rovers v Drogheda United, Tallaght Stadium, 7.45pm
It's not new territory for Shamrock Rovers to make a slow start to the season.
While being vexed at his side's poor performance in the first half last week against Shelbourne, Stephen Bradley has returned to the playbook of 2023 and been much more measured in the view of how his side are shaping up early on.
Bradley explained: "Yes, we're really happy. Obviously, we want more points on the board, we wanted two wins. But I get a completely different feel around the group this year. Last year I could feel the tension, the nervousness and the tightness within the group with all the talk surrounding four in a row.
"This year I feel a complete freedom and freshness, so it’s a really nice feeling and I thought parts of the Dundalk performance showed that and the last hour last week also showed it. We need to turn that into a 90-minute performance now, but I like where the group is in terms of that aspect. We would like more points, but we won’t panic, we’ve been here before and know what it takes."
Seán Kavanagh, Seán Hoare, Jack Byrne and Aaron McEneff remain out for the home side, but Roberto Lopes is back involved after a rest period following the Africa Cup of Nations.
United won in Tallaght last season in one of the major results which kept them away from relegation worries in the end.
Kevin Doherty will not be panicking at their own disappointing opening to the league.
It's not an appetising fixture with that in mind and a repeat of the 2023 performance would be most welcome.
Sligo Rovers v Shelbourne FC, The Showgrounds, 7.45pm
Shelbourne boss Damien Duff tried to play down the significance of recording a win over Shamrock Rovers last week and a first for the Drumcondra side over the Hoops in close to two decades.
Attention turns to facing an unbeaten Sligo Rovers side at a venue his side won twice in last year.
Duff is wary of the Bit O' Red despite their struggles of 2023: "You could argue they're a new outfit, made a lot of changes in the off season to their squad, John Russell would admit himself maybe that it was needed after last season.
"They’ve got top players, there for everyone to see, really dangerous players, a very good team. We have to go down there and show them respect as individuals and as a team, because they have a lot of quality.
"Sligo have been impressive and you’d argue they’ve had as tough a start as possible away to Bohs and home to Derry.
"We know we have to fully prepare and we had our pre match, watched their stuff, done our homework and now we’re looking forward to the challenge of the weekend."
Shane Griffin is out injured while Sean Boyd serves the second of a three-match ban suspended. John O'Sullivan has overcome a dead leg.
The Showgrounds welcomed its biggest league crowd in over a decade last week against Derry City.
Rovers were resolute and certainly seemed to have ironed out some issues.
Russell was pleased with their display last week.
"It was a clean sheet. It was something to build on. The performances of Nando Pijnaker and Ollie Denham, they really dealt with Patrick Hoban all night. JR Wilson and Reece Hutichson won their 1v1 battles against Duffy and McMullan.
"These are real attacking threats. Ed McGinty was commanding and really good on crosses and dealt with it. Throughout the team, from Max Mata we had good shape and good structure about us.
"Shelbourne had a good start to the season, they're a good team, we'll be looking forward to them coming down to Sligo and hopefully we’ll have another big crowd."
Bohemians v Dundalk, Dalymount Park, 7.45
The first night of the season brought positivity for Dundalk and a negative for Bohemians. However those elements were completely flipped last week.
Oriel Park was stunned by Galway United taking a two-goal lead. Dundalk looked good in general play, but lacked a cutting edge in attack and certainly appeared as a team which needs time to gel.
Manager Stephen O'Donnell took a philisophical view of the outcome of last week: "My overriding feeling after the Galway game last Friday was that it was a bit of a missed opportunity. From a principle point of view, we didn't play the game properly, right from the start, and we gave up two poor goals but the reaction has been good this week.
"We know what went wrong and what we need to clean up on and with a new bunch of players, it might turn out to be a positive that we have such clarity straight off the bat and we know how to go about things so early in the season.
"We’re two games in and nobody around the league has maximum points and that’s the way the league is going to be this season again. You look at the fixtures every week and it’s very hard to pick winners."
Dutch midfielder Koen Oostenbrink is back in the squad after missing the opening two games of the season with a hamstring strain.
Bohs boss Declan Devine may have wondered how his season would go after the draw with Sligo Rovers and the long-term injury to Rob Cornwall.
But victory in Richmond Park hours after adding multiple players to his squad on deadline day has changed the mood.
Devine said: "It was a very positive team performance last week in many ways. It was a performance full of discipline, self-belief and togetherness. There was a real honesty about the group.
"But we know it is just one game - a really positive performance away from home - and that we have to draw a line under last week. Those pats on the back are gone now, we have to do it again this week.
"I have been very impressed by Dundalk. I watched them in pre-season, I watched the game against Shamrock Rovers where I felt they were outstanding. I thought last week that they were very unfortunate to lose against Galway United.
"They had huge chances and there were periods of the game where they were well on top. The game could have been 3-3 or 4-4.
"I've no doubt that they are coming here to have a go. We really have to be at our best. I know I say that a lot, but this is going to be a really tough game and the players know that."
Adam McDonnell is a doubt with a knock. Keith Buckley (knee), Cornwall (knee) and James McManus (foot) remain out.
Galway United v Waterford FC, Eamonn Deacy Park, 7.45pm
It's not often two promoted sides record victories in their first away match of the new season.
Galway and Waterford showed they will be big additions to the Premier Divisions by leaving Louth with three points last week.
United pulled away from the Blues last year with a 1-0 victory early in the season a big marker.
A win for either side here would set them up well in the battle to avoid the drop.
John Caulfield earmarked the high line of Dundalk last week as Karl O'Sullivan caused many problems for the defence.
The Tribesmen were good value for the win in Oriel and they look to build on that now.
Caulfield said: "I thought against Pat's we did okay, particularly in the first half, but we couldn't break them down.
"Going to Dundalk, we knew we would have to fight for our life. All week we felt that our pace might cause them some problems. It was a fantastic 2-0 win. All our focus and energy is on Friday now.
"We're hoping we can create chances against Waterford because if we do we'll be confident we can take sme of them.
"We played Waterford last year a number of times and our record against them was good. They've brought in a lot of good players and it's another big challenge for us. But again it's a home game and we have to make our home form count."
Darragh Leahy (2) Niall O'Keeffe and Padraig Amond found the net for Waterford in Drogheda last week.
It was an impressive display as they look to make it back-to-back away wins.
New signing Connor Evans is unavailable after picking up a knock in training. Christie Pattisson is away on compassionate leave.
Harvey MacAdam comes into the squad after joining the Blues on loan last week from Fleetwood Town.
Watch Derry City v St Patrick's Athletic in the League of Ireland on Friday from 7.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
