Friday night is a big night for the four sides battling it out against relegation from the eircom League Premier Division, with second-from-bottom Finn Harps making the journey to Dublin to take on St Patrick’s Athletic, who are just two places above them, and Waterford United and Shamrock Rovers also facing crucial league encounters.

Harps have climbed off the bottom in recent weeks, and although their good run of form was ended unambiguously by Shelbourne last weekend, they will be operating more at their own level when they take on the Saints at Richmond Park.

The home side have been sucked into the relegation fight after conceding a succession of late goals in recent weeks – potential wins over Drogheda United (last week) and Derry City (in August) were denied by goals in the last couple of minutes, while the winning goals in defeats at the hands of Longford Town, Bray Wanderers and Bohemians have all come inside the last 13 minutes.

That leaves them just five points clear of bottom spot, although their only wins in their last 11 games have come against bottom two Harps and Waterford, so they will be hopeful of continuing that trend tonight.