With only four home games remaining, starting with tonight’s tough game against First Division leaders, Shelbourne FC, how quickly the season has passed with only seven games to be played out before the current Airtricity League season draws to a close.

The Dublin side have always proved a tough nut for us since our introduction to League of Ireland football three seasons ago as we have yet to take a single point of them in eight meetings over that period.Tonight’s opponents have justified their pre-season favourites tag for the First Division title and the prize of promotion back to the Premier Division as they currently sit on top of the table, which they have done for almost all of the current season, having only lost two of their 22 games to date.

Alan Matthews side have proved to be the best side in the division and the fact they lead the table by eight points having won 18 of those 22 games shows how consistent and focused they have been on their goal of Premier Division football next season.

Our last home meeting at Fahy’s Field back in late March saw us come very close to breaking that run of eight straight defeats but despite Rory Gaffney’s goal, Alan Matthews side took all three points with a narrow 2-1 win courtesy of goals from David Cassidy and Stephen Paisley. Shelbourne withstood a late onslaught from the home team that night and had keeper Dean Delaney to thank for their slender win as he claimed the man of the match award.

Since our last home game against Cork City we have had a free weekend due to the FAI Cup and an away game with Longford Town which produced a battling 2-2 draw in a game which saw a depleted side come back from two down to take a deserved share of the points. Despite missing at least eight first team regulars and enduring a particularly bad start to the game, conceding after just four minutes, the team showed great battling spirit to bounce back and scored two well taken goals from Pat Hoban and the returning Damien O’Rourke, both headers from excellent deliveries into the box.

It is games like tonight’s which is one of the main reason the club took the decision to enter the League of Ireland as our young players get the chance to pit their talents against the likes of top sides like Shelbourne. It is also a great occasion for the club to be welcoming and hosting top sides here at Fahy’s Field and also for the community.