Two of the teams expected to battle it out for the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title clash tonight amid a run of poor form which has seen them together hold one victory in 10 matches.
Damien Duff and Stephen Kenny will do battle, and it's the loss of form which will concern the managers.
Shelbourne fell to successive defeats over the Bank Holiday programme without scoring a goal, having previously registered three 2-2 draws.
It’s just four wins in 14 for the champions with pressure now on not to fall behind any further with the busy European summer to come.
St Patrick's Athletic had been registering enough wins to stay in the leading position, while Kenny had registered concern with how performances were not reaching the desired level.
Matches on the road are proving a sticky point, with four losses so far. The short trip to Drumcondra brings increased importance on the back of a loss in Derry last Monday.
Panic will not be setting into either camp yet this games has certainly taken on more life in front of a sold out Tolka Park.
Pat's boss Stephen Kenny said: "We've got to dust ourselves down after being in Derry to face Shelbourne. Obviously St Pat's against Shelbourne is a great rivalry and they are the league champions. There's not much in it between a lot of the teams at the top.
"We found ourselves top last week, and found ourselves on the wrong side of a 1-0 in Derry on Monday and moved down a few places so we've got the bounce back with a strong performance."
Duff feels it is the ideal opponent after their loss of form.
The former Republic of Ireland winger commented: "Perfect game, no excuses. There might be a bit of doom and gloom about some people, but the lads have done so much right. Any little mistake gets punished. This isn't a time to feel sorry for ourselves or to go under. It’s time to work hard, that’s all I know. That’s all the players know. We get knocked down, stick together, get back up and keep going. It’s very simple."
The top two in the table will meet in Tallaght Stadium as Shamrock Rovers take on surprise package Drogheda United.
The Boynesiders have held on to top spot for a few weeks now, with the late winner against Cork City a fine tonic to disappointment with losing a two-goal in Sligo.
The Hoops came away with four points in their matches with the bottom two. It was results elsewhere which helped lift them to their best position of the season so far.
With their squad looking stronger and young players continuing to impress, it will give Drogheda a major test of their credentials.
Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley has praised his counterpart from Sullivan and Lambe Park.
Bradley stated: "Drogheda have been up there from the start, 14 games in and they're still there. They deserve to be there, so we need to make sure we gve Drogheda the full respect tomorrow that they deserve and what they’re good at, which we will.
"I'm sure going full time has helped them. It’s great they are full time, it’s obviously what we want. We want all clubs in the league full time. So it’s a positive step that Drogheda are that. The threats they have are good, Drogheda are really good at what they do so we need to make sure we’re ready for that, impose ourselves on them as soon as possible and do what we do."
Derry City are also looking like they are coming to the party with another scalp taken on Monday.
Outside of a below-par display in Waterford, the Candystripes have been impressive in climbing the table.
With the likes of Patrick Hoban and Sadou Diallo to come back in, it's exciting times at the Ryan McBride Brandywell.
It's a big ask for Cork City as they host Derry, although the possible return of Sean Maguire is a huge lift and something which could turn around their season.
Manager Tim Clancy did not give a straightforward answer on whether we will see Maguire for long in this game.
He explained: "Look, we have to get a couple of follow up tests this week but the hope is Seáni will be available and ready to get on the pitch.
"We need to get Biodex scans done to see where he is from the scans of three weeks ago. There were positive signs and he's done a lot of work since so should be available."
He feels a cautious approach may be best.
"Seáni looks after himself by doing everything right," he said. "We’re not rushing him back so once all the indicators from Joe and the medical team come back fine we’ll phase him back into matchplay, hopefully from Friday."
Clancy's side have been beset by injury woes all year, they go in search of a third home success of the season.
John Coleman will take charge of a League of Ireland match for the first time in over a decade as Waterford host Galway United.
The former Sligo Rovers boss has been a manager for over 1,200 matches and won the race to land the Blues job.
Interim boss Matt Lawlor has given Coleman a hard act to follow after three wins on the spin.
They face a Galway United outfit that, like most of the league, has blown hot and cold.
Moses Dyer's goals are giving United a chance of a positive result in every game, with the Tribesmen uncharacteristically shipping late goals recently.
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