The League of Ireland season tips over the halfway mark tonight with a big Dublin derby between Bohemians and an out-of-form Shamrock Rovers at Dalymount Park.
No such issues for Shelbourne, who are starting to move up the table, and they'll hope to continue that recent good form away to a Derry City side struggling for wins right now but hoping to sign off from their Celtic Park temporary home with a vital three points.
We’re mere weeks away from a decade of Stephen Bradley’s time in charge of Shamrock Rovers, but tonight his side make the short trip north hoping to avoid something that has only happened twice before in his tenure – suffering three league defeats in a row.
Bradley took over from Pat Fenlon on an interim basis in July 2016, getting the full-time gig a few months later, before eventually guiding the club to five league titles.
Rovers are favourites to add another success to the list this season, but defeat to Bohemians, off the back of losses to Dundalk and Sligo Rovers, will increase expectation of a proper title race.
The first time such a losing run happened during Bradley's tenure was back in 2018 when Bray won 1-0 at the Carlisle Grounds, while at the tail-end of last season a trio of defeats just left things nervy for the eventual champions as they suffered a bit of white-line fever with the title in their grasp.
Bradley is confident it is a minor slip-up for his side: "We're disappointed with the last two results. But when you take everything out of it and think we had such a short pre-season, 13 training days, there was always going to be ups and downs because of that, especially early on.
"But if you said at the halfway point, we’d be where we are, you would be happy. We know it’s been OK, but we know there’s a lot more to come so I think it’s important we understand that."
A two-goal win for Bohs would actually see them leap-frog their opponents with Alan Reynolds' side finding their scoring touch in recent times, hitting nine goals in their current three-game winning streak - Colm Whelan and Ross Tierney moving towards the upper echelons of the goal-scoring charts as a result.
Dawson Devoy was another on target in Friday’s 4-2 win in Galway, and what a goal it was too, and Bohs’ decision to hold him back from the Irish camp – he'll miss the Qatar friendly but will be available for Canada – means he’ll likely play a central role in this Dublin derby.
Rovers’ pair Ed McGinty and Adam Brennan were also called up by Heimir Hallgrimsson, and they are due to fly out to camp today so won’t be available.
The absence of the former means it’s set to be a big night for young goalkeeper Alex Noonan, who looks set to deputise for McGinty.
Still only 17, he already has some big-game experience having saved the penalty against Canada that sent the Republic of Ireland’s Under-17s to the World Cup last 16 in Qatar last November – getting a strong hand to Elijah Roche’s effort in a tetchy shoot-out between the sides.
Another two-goal win can see a home side leap-frog their visiting opponents in the table tonight, but in the case of Derry and Shelbourne, they’re way too far down the table to get too excited by such a prospect. For now, anyway.
The Candystripes' 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers at the end of April felt like it could be the spark to build a platform heading towards the second half of the season, but their response has been four draws with a loss to Drogheda sandwiched in between.
Goals have been a major problem for Tiernan Lynch’s side – and they’ve only managed to score more than once twice over the last seven games – the first of those a 2-1 win over this evening’s opponents. Only bottom two Sligo and Waterford have scored less in the league this season. Only once in the league, against Waterford, have they managed to score more than two goals this season.
The game with Shelbourne is their final one at Find Insurance Celtic Park and it could be a few weeks of change for the club in other areas off the pitch too.
Alex Bannon, Henry Rylah and Josh Thomas' futures are up in the air as their loan deals are up in June. All three were on the bench for Friday’s scoreless draw with St Pat’s, although Rylah and Thomas were introduced in the second half.
Despite a busy transfer window before the league, Lynch has hinted that July could see plenty of activity too. They could get a boost sooner than that; Liam Boyce is yet to play this season after a nine-month injury lay-off but he was an unused substitute on Friday and could come into the reckoning here.
Shelbourne are one of the form teams in the division currently with the 11 points collected from their last five games equalled only by third-placed Bohs - so they will carry confidence into a game against a side likely to be a rival for a European spot.
Shels did leave it late to take all three points on Friday, Seán Boyd with a late, late winner against Waterford as he took advantage of a goalmouth scramble after good work from Harry Wood on the right.
