Compelling title race to bring curtain down on LOI

It all began back in February. It feels like a lifetime ago now. And now the most compelling, unpredictable and, at times perplexing, men's Premier Division season is about to conclude. Its denouement a fitting final act to what has gone before.

All eyes fixed on the Ryan McBride Brandywell and Tallaght Stadium and with it a script, as yet, unknown.

In keeping with the season so far, the audience should be prepared for a final twist or two before the trophy is handed out.

Up to last Friday, there was a cast of four, in a title tussle that was being dubbed 'the race nobody wanted to win'. Of course they wanted to win it, but stage fright and a few fluffed lines affected performances.

Shelbourne regained their composure in the last few weeks, while five-in-a-row seeking Shamrock Rovers at times not at their showy best, are still part of the plot in a working title that transitioned to 'four becomes two' after the penultimate weekend.

Viewers on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and the RTÉ News channel will be across events in Tallaght and the Maiden City. A replica trophy has had to be produced. Will it be that or the real thing that gets handed out? We don't know.

It's ten years since the former FAI chief executive John Delaney described the league as a "difficult child for the organisation".

Delaney's comments uttered on the back of the FAI assuming control of the league, this after clubs had a collective loss of €7million for one trading year.

Billionaire owners are filling the void of a league yet to become sustainable in itself. The problems have diminished, but not disappeared.

Dundalk's financial woes and their near demise was an unwanted news item for such an established club.

Owner John Temple is now looking to attract investors, while