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Crikey! Just over a month ago, the inevitable coronation of Shamrock Rovers as Irish champions seemed such a fait accompli you could practically hear the faint, mournful wail of Derry City fans in the distance. Having dispatched the hipster threat of Bohemians and watched Derry slip up against Drogheda, the Tallaght titans needed a single, solitary point from their final five League of Ireland Premier Division outings to bag their fifth title in six years. Three defeats later, they are finding that point harder to come by than heatstroke on a wet and windy November night at their own stadium. Still, if Rovers can just draw their game in hand against Galway United at home this evening, they will finally be crowned champions.
While their recent run of five consecutive defeats across the league and Tin Pot means bagging a point against a Galway team battling the drop is a far from foregone conclusion, Rovers can still afford to lose tonight and wrap up the league by taking a point from their final game of the season against Sligo. Should the unthinkable happen and the Hoops lose both their remaining matches, it almost certainly still won’t matter. With a three-point lead and a vastly superior goal difference of +11 over nearest rivals Derry City, the chances of them Devon Loching this title race are negligible. In the extremely unlikely event they were to ship a five- or six-goal hiding tonight, though, they would certainly be entering the puckered, unedifying realms of the Squeaky Bum.
