Cathal Dervan, Editor
There’s a young man out there who won’t like the story being told but here goes - only because today is Friday and not a Super Sunday as so often used by Sky Sports and their likes.
Once upon a time Sunday was League of Ireland day. All games kicked-off in the afternoon and everyone was home - or in the pub - by teatime. It was all very regular and all very structured and of its time.
Nowadays, Friday is League of Ireland day. From February until November, give or take, we measure our seasons and our ambitions on a Friday evening - unless you’re from Sligo which is when Saturday comes into play in the North-West.
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Let’s get the party started…
This weekend however, all the Premier Division action is on tonight, Friday night. So we need, as you will hear on our LOI podcast with Darryl Geraghty, a new moniker and an Irish version of Super Sunday.
Fabulous Friday is a bit too Joanna Lumley so maybe we should consider Freaky Friday - even if a young man I know was so freaked out by the title of the 2003 movie that he left the cinema before the opening credits had even rolled at the time of its release.
Could tonight be a Freaky Friday in the top flight of Irish football? Or is Fantastic Friday a better option? Yes actually, simply because it has all the ingredients to be a defining Friday with just seven games to go before the end of the season - or a flop of a Friday for some.
There’s a couple of games that don’t really have the clout to deserve a freak title. Bohs go to Galway for a potential FAI Cup final dress rehearsal with Alan Reynolds side in real need of the three points in case something goes their way elsewhere in the title race.
Shels against Derry and Waterford against Dundalk won’t really affect the top or the bottom of the table as it will look after tonight’s games - but the other two games certainly will. And they definitely have the potential to be freaky or fabulous in terms of impact, depending on which side of the fence you sit on at Richmond Park or Sullivan & Lambe Park.
Let’s start with the visit of Shamrock Rovers to Inchicore and their quest to avenge their recent extra-time defeat to Pats in the FAI Cup. That probably won’t be as big an incentive for the Hoops tonight as the three points which could, effectively, all but end the title race given that they are currently six points ahead of both the second placed Saints and third placed Bohs.
You would have to think that a nine point advantage for Rovers over Stephen Kenny’s side, with only 18 left to play for after this game, would effectively end the home team’s title hopes and leave their owners and their fans scratching their heads again.
Likewise a win for Pats - cutting the lead down to three points in the process - would reignite their own championship hopes and the title race, even more so if Bohs take a win home from Terryland.
To borrow and alter an old phrase - it really is poop or get off the pot time for those who will wear the Pats and Rovers jerseys on Virgin Media tonight.
If Rovers are to win the league, they need to deliver more than their recent form and turn possession into goals tonight. They can create chances, we have seen that more often than not recently, but this time they must take them.
The same goes for Pats. Yes, they were unlucky to lose on penalties to Bohs last weekend but again they had the chances to win that game and didn’t take them. Any repeat this evening and they can kiss the league title goodbye.
Drogheda have a different problem at home to Sligo at the other end of the table. Kevin Doherty’s side can play good football and can score great goals - witness Brandon Kavanagh’s strike against Dundalk in the recent game. But they are also prone to conceding too often, as again evident in that painful Wee County derby defeat.
Currently five points clear of a doomed Sligo ahead of tonight’s relegation battle, they are also four behind Waterford and cemented, it would seem, to that play-off spot.
Time, as Kevin will know, is not Drogheda’s friend right now. They have to start winning again tonight - or it will be a flop of a Friday. And that’s a marketing jingle nobody wants.
It has all the makings of a Super Sunday but it might end up being a Freaky Friday with so much at stake in the League of Ireland tonight at both ends of the table. Our regular LOI analyst Darryl Geraghty joins editor Cathal Dervan to look forward to all the action.
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