It has been a long time coming as Shamrock Rovers stand on the verge of becoming Premier Division champions tonight when they make the shortest journey of the season to take on St Patrick's Athletic at Richmond Park.
The last two weeks have seen the Hoops on the cusp of being crowned league winners, only to be thwarted by narrow margins.
Tonight, they just need a point against a Saints side still hurting from the FAI Cup semi-final loss to Cork City.
Even if they fail to get at least a draw, Derry City must win in Waterford to prolong the race for another week.
Defeat to Shelbourne last week was just a fifth of the campaign for the league leaders.
Stephen Bradley’s side were without a number of players on an international week and with injury issues, yet there was still surprise they couldn’t find the net against the 10-man Reds.
Roberto Lopes will return from international duty after helping Cape Verde qualify for the World Cup for the first time.
Bradley feels there will be a real intensity to the clash: "With St Pats sitting in that league position at the moment, they need results. They've obviously got quality players and in their manager, Stephen Kenny, he’s got huge experience.
"So they’ll be trying to make sure we don’t party at their place again as we did in 2023. So we need to make sure our performance is right, look after our side of things and hopefully the result goes our way."
Tonight’s game was eyed as a potential rehearsal for a game at the Aviva Stadium in November, only for the Saints to fall flat in Turner’s Cross.
They face two Dublin rivals over the next three days where their hopes of a European finish will appear more clear. Bohemians host the Saints on Monday.
It was almost unfathomable that Pat’s would finish outside of the top four at the start of the year, given how they finished 2024 and with Kenny’s assembling what looked a strong squad.
They’ve failed to gain any real momentum over the course of the year.
With the automatic relegation place now set in stone, and the title also likely to be wrapped up, the European places and relegation play-off spot will provide the remaining drama in the year.
Waterford take on Derry on the back of victories two weeks ago and still with work to do.
Matt Lawlor’s return had the desired effect. This is the first of two more home matches in what could be the key factor in keeping the Blues in the Premier Division.
Lawlor has plenty of faith in his players during this second interim spell: "It's been two weeks since we last played so to keep that momentum is difficult, but we’ve trained really well since the Drogheda game, so hopefully we can bring that form into our last three games of the season.
Derry tonight is a massive task. This group of players have never not tried. It made it easier going into a two-week break between games with a win, it made it more bouncier, but I'd expect that regardless of the result against Drogheda because that's what type of manager I am."
Derry needed a stoppage time goal to defeat Sligo Rovers from key man Michael Duffy when the performance wasn’t to the standard they had sought.
The points were all that mattered. Two more wins will be enough for the Candystripes to stay inside the top four.
The cut off points for Europe will be extended to fourth if Shamrock Rovers win the FAI Cup.
If that does that happen, second place will also lead to a Europa League qualifying place instead of the Conference which offers a chance to enter both competitions next week.
There can be not let up for Tiernan Lynch with such prizes on offer.
Shelbourne have found their groove at the perfect time, after defeat in Drogheda last month made them outsiders for Europe. But six points on the road in the last week has changed that.
Now they welcome Sligo to Tolka Park with the chance even creeping into second spot if results go their way.
Sligo suffered a real setback with that Duffy goal in the dying seconds in Derry, coupled with Waterford moving level on points.
This is a tough game to respond in, and given they had a match in Tallaght in their finale, it’s uncertain times for the Bit O’ Red.
"This will be a tough one for us," Sligo boss Russell said ahead of the game.
"Shels have been excellent recently and like ourselves are doing all they can to pick up points to reach their targets and have hit some form.
"Our form against them this season isn't great but in all three games, we've either been level or ahead against them at half time. It's about focus and concentration and I feel we have improved even further in that regard since we played them last in August.
"We got caught with a late goal in Derry because we switched off. If we do that in Tolka, it won't end well for us.
"Everyone is fighting for points now and although we always want to entertain, it's in our DNA, we know how critical it is to scrap and squeeze out results. We have huge belief in ourselves that we will be able to do that."
For Shels, long-term absentees Conor Kearns and Sam Bone remain unavailable, while Sean Moore continues to be monitored after a recent groin issue.
A win for the Reds would be a massive step towards a top three finish, and manager Joey O'Brien knows there is a big-fight feel to nights like this.
"There’s a cup-final feel to it, we say it every week, this stage of the season, but it is the truth, at the business end where you want to be, with something on the line," he said.
"It’ll be the same tomorrow night. Sligo are a really difficult opponent, if you’ve seen the form table, they’re second in it, which shows how dangerous they are.
"We’re expecting a really tough game, they’re a real attacking team with proper quality everywhere, we know we need to be on it to get a result."
It’s certainly a must-win for Drogheda United as relegated Cork City head east.
The Shels revival has moved the Boynesiders down to fifth in the table and St Pat’s are just a point behind with a game in hand to come on Monday.
City only have FAI Cup final preparation and pride to play for as the reality of a return to the First Division sets in.
Two more teams desperate for points meet in Eamonn Deacy Park as Galway United face Bohemians.
United know they need at least one win to avoid the play-off with four matches remaining. It’s easier said than done given they only have one victory in their last 12.
That was against Cork so a turnaround is needed from John Caulfield’s side.
Bohemians have spent four years out of Europe and recovered from a slow start to look like they were finally ready to end that wait.
It’s very much up in the air after a disappointing closing third to the campaign.
Much like Pat’s, their game tonight and the clash at Dalymount Park on Monday makes it a pivotal time in their season.
Bohs boss Alan Reynolds said: "At the start of the season, we were saying this was a marathon and not a sprint. But now we are very much in a sprint.
"We've had three weeks without a league game but we have worked extremely hard in those three weeks.
"Our players are in a very good place. That time without a game has allowed us to properly look after a few players with niggles and get a few others back up to speed."
