By Michael Lockhart
Finn Harps may have rounded off their campaign last weekend against Treaty United, but local fans of the League of Ireland are still in for an exciting end to the season.
We knew that the Premier Division title race would go down to the wire, and going into the penultimate weekend of fixtures, the battle for league honours is as close as ever.
Shelbourne continue to lead the way – and have a two point advantage over Derry City in second and Shamrock Rovers who are third.
St. Patrick’s Athletic, despite their brilliant run of seven league wins on the bounce, might well fall short – they sit four points behind the leaders Shels with just two games to play.
As it stands, Damien Duff’s Shelbourne would appear to be favourites to win the title. They know that two wins from their final two games – against Drogheda United (h) on Friday night and Derry City (a) -will be enough to top the table at the finish.
On paper, it seems Derry City face the hardest run-in. They are away to St. Pat’s on Friday night and then host Shelbourne on the final day.
Shamrock Rovers are still very much in the hunt. Their game this weekend isn’t until Sunday when they travel to play relegated Dundalk. They will round off their league programme with a home game against Waterford FC.
And what’s the chances of Donegal players celebrating a league title win by the end of the season? Shelbourne are captained by Burt man Mark Coyle who has enjoyed a wonderful campaign at Tolka Park.
Then at Derry, Ronan Boyce and Ciaran Coll are both part of the set-up – and remember their team also have an FAI Cup final against Drogheda United to come.
Unfortunately for Coll, his season has come to a premature end because of injury.
The final game of the season between Derry City and Shelbourne could be one of the most anticipated League of Ireland games for some time – particularly if they both win their games this weekend.
That potential title-decider at the Ryan McBride Brandywell will be on Friday, November 1 with kick off at 7.45pm.
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