Time certainly flies and the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Divsion is already at the halfway stage of a hectic season.
The clubs in Europe later in the summer - Shamrock Rovers, Drogheda United, St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne had already got to matchday 18 last Friday - but while they cross the threshold to 19 tonight, the rest of the top flight will arrive at number 18 in the final games before the league takes its traditional two-week mid-season break.
It's a significant night to lay down a marker before the second half of the campaign for Shels and St Pat's who sit mid-table (albeit the majority of the league could arguably count themselves to be midtable) as they visit the bottom two Cork City and Sligo Rovers respectively, who will also harbour ambitions of giving themselves a vital shot in the arm.
Shamrock Rovers, meanwhile, will be aiming to make it six wins in a row when they host Galway United, while second placed Drogheda United are at third-from-bottom Waterford and Bohemians and Derry City lock horns after defeats last time out.
Sligo Rovers v St Patrick's Athletic, The Showgrounds, 7.45pm
St Pat's have been faltering in recent weeks with their defending particularly suspect. Despite Mason Melia's best efforts last Friday, Waterford came away from Richmond Park with a 2-2 draw and Stephen Kenny's Saints have now conceded ten goals in their last four fixtures.
While they are only three points adrift of second-placed Drogheda, the tight nature of the table means they are languishing down in fifth and they will view the trip to bottom side Sligo as a chance to gain valuable points, although Kenny is definitely not taking anything for granted.
"We're looking forward to the game. I feel Sligo have made a slow start to the season but recent performances have been quite good," Kenny says, pointing to the Bit O' Reds' win over Galway United and pushing Shelbourne close last week.
He will be without midfielder Barry Baggley through suspension but can welcome back Jamie Lennon from a ban of his own and playmaker Chris Forrester will be assessed pre-kick-off.
Kenny adds: "We're going to have to roll our sleeves up and work hard in Sligo and put in a performance. Those three points are precious and invaluable. Very little in in between eighth and second at the minute."
Sligo are far away from the safety that eighth provides but the points are no more invaluable given that they and Cork City are now battling to avoid automatic relegation.
"We know we're good enough to beat anyone on our night," says manager John Russell, who acknowledges his counterpart Kenny's vast experience as well as the talent at Pat's disposal.
"The games have come thick and fast and it's been a busy few weeks heading into the break. We don't want to be bottom going into the break and we're doing all we can to ensure that. Hopefully we'll have a big crowd in to roar us on on Friday night."
Sligo will be without defender Ollie Denham for another few weeks, while Oskar van Hattum, Conor Reynolds and Jake Doyle-Hayes will have to be assessed before tonight.
Waterford v Drogheda United, The RSC, 7.45pm
This time last year, Drogheda United and Waterford werre ninth and third in the table respectively after matchday 18.
As they arrive towards the same point this year, they are second and eighth, although as Kenny mentioned earlier, the latter is more or less midtable in the congested standings.
But for reigning FAI Cup winners Drogheda, these are heady days and the fact that they are second, six points off Shamrock Rovers, despite a somewhat iffy May, shows how far they have come.
"We're sitting second in the table and we’re doing very well and we’ve won as many games already as we did in the whole of last season, but we don’t get ahead of ourselves - that’s the way we are," Drogs boss Kevin Doherty tells the Drogheda Independent.
"After our game on Friday I went straight home and watched the Waterford game against St Pat’s and Waterford were absolutely excellent and I don’t think anybody could argue that they didn’t deserve to win the game."
Captain Ryan Brennan will be absent at The RSC due to a one-match suspension, while Paul Doyle and Josh Thomas are injured and James Bolger is a doubt.
While Waterford didn't win at St Pat's last week, their performance harked back to some of their solid displays since John Coleman has taken charge - the defeat to Shamrock Rovers aside - and the new manager is in upbeat mood before Drogheda's visit.
"We're going out to win the game tomorrow like we do every week – which people saw last week – and if we tighten up on the errors we’ve made, the better we will be," he says, with no new injuries to contend with beyond those already on the sidelines: Matty Smith, Andy Boyle, Trae Coyle and Kacper Radkowski.
Cork City v Shelbourne, Turners Cross, 7.45pm
Gerard Nash's first game in charge of Cork City didn't end up with an ideal result as they succumbed to a late Galway United winner.
However, Nash is starting to get things in place behind the scenes and has brought in a high-profile assistant in the shape of former Republic of Ireland, Sunderland, Hull and Cork midfielder David Meyler to add some "Corkness".
Meyler will start working alongside Nash after the mid-season break so won't be involved for the tough task of facing reigning champions Shelbourne, managed of course by fellow former Boys in Green international Damien Duff.
Shels have had a mixed time of it in their title defence and although John Martin's hat-trick delivered a victory over Sligo last week, they still leaked in two at the other end.
However, Martin's goals were most welcome for a side that have not been consistently prolific - only Bohemians, Cork and Waterford have scored fewer than the 21 they have mustered - although that stat could be somewhat moot given that every team apart from Shamrock Rovers is within a whisker of each other when it comes to goals scored, just like the actual table.
Mipo Odubeko and the aforementioned Martin are joint top scorers on four goals apiece and the much-missed Sean Boyd is just two behind them despite being out for the last number of weeks, highlighting the issues Shels have had in that department.
"No Sean Boyd and no Sam Bone this week," said Duff. "Paddy Barrett's back and fit enough for the bench. Sean Gannon has a bit of a niggle but should be okay to take a place on the bench as well. Lewis Temple is back in the squad too. Conor Kearns has been back on the pitch the last few days, he’s healing quickly.
"Why (the break) is there in the first place, I don’t really know. Like I said, there’s a real amateurish feel to it. The game finishes Friday night, and it feels like the whole league meets in Dublin Airport on Saturday morning."
Bohemians v Derry City, Dalymount Park, 7.45pm
Derry City manager Tiernan Lynch was beside himself last week when he spoke of the goals his side conceded in losing late on to Shamrock Rovers last week.
A few days on, the former Larne boss has not changed his tune about a result that dropped down to third, eight points adrift of the Hoops - albeit with a game in hand: "It's been a frustrating old week. We thought we'd done enough in that game to at least get a point in the end.
"There were things we felt we done really well for long periods and we were absolutely kicking ourselves at the goals we conceded.
"It's no secret we want to go and strengthen. Do we have pen to paper at this stage? No definitely not. There are lots of conversations going on, there's lots of work going on behind the scenes but unfortunately not in a position to say anything concrete."
On the plus side for the Candystripes, Lynch says injury worries are at the minimum with Ronan Boyce the main doubt.
Bohemians also lost last time out, having been on a strong run of results prior to the narrow defeat to Drogheda.
For Bohs, Alex Lacey (hamstring) is out, Connor Parsons (hamstring) is a doubt but Lys Mousset (Achilles) is back in contention.
"We know what we are up against," said boss Alan Reynolds. "We've watched a lot of Derry and they are a really good side with really good players.
"They’ve players who have done it at the highest level in this league before, the manager has been backed this season in terms of strengthening further and there’s expectation at the club for them to challenge this season."
Shamrock Rovers v Galway United, Tallaght Stadium, 8pm
Shamrock Rovers are the first front-runner to really go on a charge and the Hoops will be aiming for a sixth win in a row when Galway United visit Tallaght.
With the wind in their sails, one would assume that Rovers manager Stephen Bradley would not be keen on the break. However, after a hectic first part of the season that included Conference League knockout football, he holds the opposite view.
"We have momentum but I think the break now is important to take, with what's coming in the second half of the season," he says.
"There will be a lot of games and it could be a long season so we mightn’t have this opportunity again until the end of the season. It’s important we use the break and that the players get some much-needed recovery time."
They will have a couple of gaps defensively with Dan Cleary suspended, while Lee Grace and Seán Kavanagh are injured against a Galway side Bradley deems as "dangerous".
Galway ended a four-game barren run by returning to winning ways against Cork last week and one of their danger men Moses Dyer was back among the goals after two previous games in which neither the New Zealander or any of his team-mates were able to hit the back of the net.
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