Hoare hoping Rovers can pull away in 'two-horse race'

Shamrock Rovers central defender Sean Hoare believes the SSE Airtricity Premier Division is already a two-horse race and he's hoping to see his side put some distance between themselves and Derry City.

The Candystripes travel to Tallaght Stadium on Friday, trailing Rovers by a point, having recently held a six-point lead over the champions.

St Patrick’s Athletic are eight points further back in third place and despite the season still not being at the half-way mark, Derry look like the only team that can prevent Rovers' third consecutive title.

When asked whether he views the title as a two-horse race, he replied: "It does look like that at the moment.

"I suppose when you look back at this time last year there were clubs challenging that feel away and a lot can change over the next two thirds of the league.

"Derry are flying at the moment but so are we and we relish the challenge."

The Candystripes made a statement of intent in the first encounter between the two sides this season as they claimed a 2-1 victory at the Brandywell, courtesy of a Jamie McGonigle winner in injury time.

However Derry travel to Tallaght without the services of two of the most important players with both Michael Duffy and Patrick McEleney side-lined through injury.

While Hoare admits that both players are a loss for Derry, he believes they have the squad depth to cope.

"They’ve a bit of depth in the squad and I don’t think one or two injuries will affect them too much but players of that quality are hard to replace as well," he said.

"Maybe we’re catching them at a good time but it’s all well and good saying that but we still play them on Friday and they’ve depth in their squad to come in and replace those lads."

Looking beyond Friday night’s encounter,