The second round of fixtures in the Premier Division begins tonight with a blockbuster encounter between St Patrick's Athletic and Shamrock Rovers at Richmond Park.
On a double-weekend of matches, the top six sides will face off against each other tonight as well as two crucial matches involving teams looking to get away from the relegation picture.
League leader Drogheda United and champions Shelbourne meet in a game between two sides which have proven extremely hard to beat this season.
The other clash sees Galway United, with confidence through the roof after a first league win in Sligo in three decades, face Derry City at Eamonn Deacy Park.
All five teams in the top half could find themselves at the summit tonight with a win.
Meanwhile at the other end of the table, some under-pressure managers are desperate to turn around their seasons.
Waterford, Sligo Rovers and Cork City have not won in their last six matches, with Bohemians have failed to claim points in successive matches all year.
The clash of Bohs and Cork at Dalymount will only increase the level of unhappiness for one club.
The Gypsies will feel they must claim victory given their struggles so far, particularly at home.
They beat a depleted Sligo side in their last match at Dalymount, and with Cork City in a not too dissimilar situation, a draw will not suffice for home fans.
The Rebels are without a focal point in attack and were lucky to ship only four goals against Shamrock Rovers.
Something has to give at the RSC as Waterford FC (five) face Sligo Rovers (four) look to end their run of matches without claiming a point.
The teams played out a thrilling 3-2 clash on the opening night of the season, but have had little to smile about since,
The continued growing interest in the league could see four of the five matches sold out tonight.
St Patrick's Athletic v Shamrock Rovers, Richmond Park, 7.45pm
Among the many sub-plots within the League of Ireland this year is the duel of the Stephen Bradley and Kenny.
Bradley's title wins have all come when Kenny left the league to move onto the international scene so whether the younger manager can get the better of a near 25-year veteran is certainly of intrigue.
Shamrock Rovers were superb on Monday night against Cork City.
The opposition were certainly poor, but Jack Byrne excelled amongst others, while Michael Noonan also caught the eye.
Ed McGinty made three superb saves when called upon and the only blight on their night was an injury to Danny Mandroiu.
Bradley is feeling upbeat going into this clash: "We're really looking forward to it. We know St Pat's are a good team. It’s a sold out game and a Dublin derby, two good teams going at it.
"It has the makings to be a really good game. The pitch at Richmond Park is always decent, so I’d imagine it will be a good footballing game. We’re in a good place, so we need to go there, stay focussed, do what we do, and look after our performance and everything else should be fine."
After a slow start to the year, it was a win over the Saints which helped Shamrock Rovers kickstart their season.
The Tallaght's side manager sees a real improvement since that clash.
"I think it’s only natural and normal that you get better as the season goes and we know that’s what happens with us. We’ve seen that, time and time again. The more games you get, the fitter and sharper you get.
"You go back, we only had one game in pre-season so we were always going to be playing catch-up in that regard. But in the last few weeks, I think you can see it’s starting to come. There are so many more levels to come from this team, but I think it’s only natural that as the season goes, the fitter and sharper you get.
Mandroiu and Gary O’Neill are set to miss two weeks with injury.
Pat's were not at their best against the Rebels last week, yet came out on top, scoring two goals before the break and comfortably seeing out the win.
Chris Forrester opened the scoring and was excellent on the night.
Aidan Keena remains out with no specified date for their star striker's return
Drogheda United v Shelbourne, Sullivan & Lambe Park, 7.45pm
These sides met in the President's Cup before the season started in what proved to be quite a misleading affair.
The Drogs looked off the pace on the night, while Shels were in top form.
The tables turned in the clash at Tolka Park.
The Reds did all they could to score, but Drogheda took the lead and hung on for the three points.
It hasn't been plain-sailling for the champions but they've certainly got the job done in recent weeks.
Wins in Sligo and at home to Bohs were sandwiched in between a draw in Richmond Park.
United have lost just a single encounter, to Shamrock Rovers in ta match decided in the final seconds, and have been top of the pile for two weeks.
Damien Duff has been regular in complimenting Drogheda and this week is no different.
He said: "There's always been an edge to this fixture, for different reasons over the years. In the past, it was maybe because of the number of ex-Shels players involved. Now, the edge is purely footballing, they’re a bloody good team, they won an FAI Cup, and they have quality in every position, there’s a real edge to this game, and everyone feels it, I think it’s great.
"The standout learning from the game in the league earlier in the season is that possession doesn't win you matches. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.
"We conceded after three minutes, and while you think there’s still 95 minutes to play, you’ve already given them something to hold onto, and they will hold onto it. The most admirable thing about them is how hard they work for each other, and that’s why they’re getting results.
Sean Boyd could miss the game due to illness, with Duff rating is chances of making the squad at 1%.
Galway United v Derry City, Eamonn Deacy Park, 7.45pm
If Derry City fans wanted a test of their team to see what heart they have, perhaps tonight's clash in Eamonn Deacy Park will speak volumes.
One of the victories of the season was Shamrock Rovers battling to a 1-0 win in Galway earlier in the month, knowing very few teams will come away with maximum points.
Tiernan Lynch could certainly make a statement by eeking out a performance matching Galway in this game.
The Tribesmen ended a long wait for a win in Sligo last week to continue to push for a top four finish this season.
With a stronger looking squad, they will hold no fears of City tonight despite some big names in the away team's line-up.
One of those will miss out tonight, however, as Liam Boyce serves a one-match ban due to his red card against Drogheda.
Lynch felt it was a huge turning point in the loss last week.
He told the Derry Journal: "For 63 minutes I thought we were superb and for eight minutes we were horrific and there's no mincing of words. We know that as a group.
"We have to weather the storm and show we're a much better team than what we did for those eight minutes.
"We've talked about that this week and again I think the players have to take great credit in the sense that, it's not something we wanted to shy away from.
"There's no putting our heads under the pillow and seeing if this goes away because it doesn't. You've got to stand up and take the criticism and the criticism is deserved.
"It wasn't good enough and we're not accepting it but there's enough quality in this team to turn it around again very quickly."
Bohemians v Cork City, Dalymount Park, 7.45pm
Cork City boss Tim Clancy has attempted to get behind his players after some cutting words in the aftermath of their latest defeat on Monday.
The City boss demanded more desire in their play and threatened to drop some of his starting XI, or even move them out in the transfer window.
"It's a focus of ours now to bounce back and we have a brilliant group of lads in their attitude wise, application everything. They're a good group.
"It's just we need a little bit of nastiness to the game as well or a little bit of experience and knowing when to slow the game down or see things out. We'll hope that that starts now on Friday.
"You have to be even more vocal, even more energetic, even more defensive minded and it's certainly something we've been working on since the game on Monday. We'll do for the rest of the week before Bohs on Friday."
Experience will return in the form of Greg Bolger with Clancy welcoming the first of some big players making their way away from the treatment table.
Clancy said: It's all different injuries that we've been unlucky with, but you have to play without players. You have to find a way to win games and change formations and you have to be harder to beat as well.
"Greg is involved Friday. He is back. Whether he starts is another thing but I imagine Greg is going to be on the pitch right now, 100%."
Bohs boss Alan Reynoldds knows the importance of this clash: "We have not asserted ourselves in games the way I believe our players are capable of but we are playing at home and it is a chance for us to rectify that.
"Cork have beaten us already this season so we know what they are capable of but we have good attacking players, we're at home and we want to take the game to them and show again what we are capable of.
"We have good attacking players – we showed that here two weeks ago but we need to build their confidence and belief, so we are determined to get off to a good start, assert ourselves, and get the crowd behind the lads."
Lys Mousset (Achilles), Liam Smith (groin) and Kian Best (ankle) are back in contention, but Alex Lacey (hamstring) remains out for the home side.
Waterford FC v Sligo Rovers, RSC, 7.45pm
Goals are expected in this game given both sides have yet to register a clean sheet this season.
They share a run of 11 defeats and any points put on the board will be a bonus in that context.
The Blues have a derby with Cork City on Monday so if they are to turn around their run of form, it certainly seems like the perfect opportunity over the double-fixture.
Sligo lost their own local clash last week against Galway, with John Russell hoping they can finally come good.
"The only way we can really recover from past defeats is to go out and win matches and that's what we will try to do in the next few weeks, starting Friday", Russel said.
"We are fully aware of the importance of this game and what getting a result down there would mean for us. The players are all working hard and both my staff and I have tremendous belief in this squad, as I have said previously.
"Waterford are again going to be tough to break down and they have a lot of attacking talent in their squad.
"It's a long trip for us and our supporters but they travelled in big numbers this time last year so hopefully our fans will follow us to Waterford again this weekend."
There is a major lift for Sligo with the return of Jake Doyle-Hayes and Cian Kavanagh. Between them they have missed five games due to red cards and they could make a difference.
Conan Noonan returns to the Blues squad after being ineligible last week.
Matty Smith remains out, whilst there may be a return for Andy Boyle over the course of this weekend's double-header.
Keith Long's thoughts is firmly with his own players, believing they are good enough to start winning again.
"We have to focus on ourselves, trying to improve some of our recent displays. The players have trained brilliantly well this week, and they're all positive going into Friday’s game in a game where we’re going to need our support once again. The supporters have been brilliant this year, filling out the RSC getting behind the team, and hopefully we can give them a performance that they can get behind."
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