Waterford FC begin what they hope will be a successful recovery mission when they take on title-chasing St Patrick's Athletic in Richmond Park on Friday night.
New boss Graham Coughlan takes charge for the first time as the Dubliner, renowned a specialist in trying to rescue teams at the bottom of the table, looks to work some magic at the Munster side.
The Blues are winless in 14 matches and had just 1,667 supporters at their last home game.
Nine points from the relegation play-off position, Coughlan knows he must hit the ground running.
The new boss has no major injury concerns to contend with ahead of his first match overseeing the Blues on Friday night, with Finlay Armstrong (quad) the only long-term absentee.
Will Johnson made a belated debut on Monday evening, coming on as a second-half substitute in our 3-3 draw with Dundalk at the RSC, after his loan move from Fleetwood Town.
Coughlan admits he is still trying to become familiar with the role just 48 hours on from the appointment: "The move here happened very quickly to be fair. I had a phone call, then a meeting, packed my bag and now I’m here at the training ground, so it’s been a whirlwind 24/48 hours but I’m just looking forward to getting going now.
"It’s a good group of lads we have here, everyone knows that. They’re struggling a bit with confidence, and maybe self-belief, but there’s a few different bits of pieces we can try instill in the players over a short period, but the players also have to start believing and learning.
"Friday night in Richmond Park against St Pat’s is a great challenge for our lads. Hopefully, we can build on the performance against Dundalk on Monday and bring out that character & resilience they showed."
Inchicore is one of the toughest places to start as Pat’s chase a return with the Saints often prolific in front of goal.
They dropped points on two trips to Connacht last weekend, including letting a two-goal lead slip in Galway.
As a result, they will see the fixture with the basement boys as one to try to close the gap on top spot or at least keep it at three.
Shamrock Rovers have their own trip west as one of the most remarkable statistics in the League of Ireland comes to the fore against.
Galway United are winless in their last 43 matches with the Hoops, losing 35 of those.
At the same time, the Tallaght side have not beaten Galway by more than two goals in a decade so the battles remain close.
Hoops boss Stephen Bradley is expecting a tough challenge despite what history shows:
"I think it will be no different on Friday.
"It's going to be a really tough game and we know that. We'll give Galway all the respect that they deserve."
Roberto Lopes and Rory Gaffney are likely to miss out.
John Caulfield has made United extremely competitive this year and had it not been for the concession of so many late goals, they would be high up the table.
Assistant manager Richie Holland describes the clash as the "ultimate test" of United.
"It's the ultimate test. We need to get our recovery right. Hopefully we can get a big crowd in as well. A big support really helps, as we've seen this year in our place."
Bohemians are seeking to end a run of nine matches without a victory as they face Dundalk in Oriel Park.
The Lilywhites surrendered their unbeaten home record last week in this increasingly unpredictable league where third place Bohs are nine points off the top, while being just seven clear of the relegation play-off.
Dundalk could have come away with maximum points in the first meet of the teams and a close game is likely again.
Ciaran Kilduff is keen to see his side maintain their focus and not be concerned by results slipping slightly:
"This league is already showing how competitive it is. Every team can go through a spell where they win a couple of games and then find it difficult to win the next couple. That is the nature of the division. What we have seen from ourselves, as a newly promoted team, is that we have been competitive in almost every game. We have really got after teams. It has worked on some nights and it has cost us on others, but that was always going to be the way.
"As a group, we do not get too high after wins or too low after defeats, and that is not about to change."
Shelbourne are looking for their first home win of the campaign as Sligo Rovers, often poor on the road, travel to north Dublin.
After a difficult spell, Joey O’Brien’s outfit took four points away from home which could have been six only for a late equaliser.
The Reds manager is confident his side will deliver again in this fixture.
"Momentum is a big thing in football, hard to build, easy to lose. Those results last week give everyone a lift and it’s well timed because you put that with lads coming back into the team from injury, and players impacting games off the bench in Dundalk and against Bohs, that’s important for us.
"Our home form has been really disappointing, but you have to look forward to the next one in front of you.
"Me personally, I believe in the quality and ability of the players we have. In the games we’ve lost, there has been a lot of dominance. We’ve shown our identity in those games, but mistakes and not being good enough at set plays have hurt us."
Sligo showed they are becoming a much more solid outfit by taking a point off St Pat’s on Monday.
Will Fitzgerald claimed the player of the month award as he continues to produce the best football of his decade-long League of Ireland career.
Sligo will be wary of a possible Waterford resurgence due to a new manager bounce, so maintaining the big lead on 10th spot would be a real help as the season progresses.
"We've shown good grit and real determination in recent weeks and not always under easy circumstances", manager John Russell said ahead of Friday's game.
"We've been without our full compliment for pretty much all season. We haven't had a fully fit squad yet. But the players that we've called on throughout, I cannot question their character or willingness to fight for everything and we'll need them all again.
"We've given some good teams a good rattle in recent weeks and we're full of confidence and really looking forward to this one. We're scoring goals, creating chances and we've only conceded three in our last six so we'll be looking to give a good account of ourselves up there."
Drogheda United and Derry City clash at Sullivan and Lambe Park in the final game of the night.
The Boynesiders were dismal in set-piece defending in Tallaght last Monday but had finally come to life in the week beforehand with two wins.
Derry have also improved and both sides will be keen to move closer to the higher echelons of the table with just three points between them as it stands.
