League of Ireland preview: Derry aim to make ground on top two

Derry City missed a golden opportunity last weekend against a tired Shamrock Rovers as the teams played out a stalemate at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

Despite their mid-season woes and injury problems, City have established themselves in third in the table and the gap to the Hoops is just eight points.

With the top two meeting on Sunday, tonight's fixture away to Drogheda bring both pressure and another major chance to close on the leaders.

Head in the Game Park has been a tough venue for Derry, and having been flat in Donegal against Finn Park, United bounced back in style with an impressive win over Shelbourne.

Elsewhere tonight, St Patrick’s Athletic have just one focus for the rest of the year with European and FAI Cup no longer part of their season.

Pat’s recorded a massive win to give some breathing space between them and fifth place Sligo Rovers in the race to the back in the Conference League again next season.

They make the short trip to the UCD Bowl to face College, who finally ended their long wait for a home win in the league last week over Finn Harps.

There’s a north-west derby as Ollie Horgan’s men welcome Sligo. Both sides will be targeting three points.

John Russell’s side are well and truly down from the height of their European summer and face a huge battle to be back there next season.

The Bit O’ Red have found Finn Park a tough place to go and were fortunate to claim three points earlier in the season.

Harps need to respond after their setback against the Students as they sit bottom of the table once more.

Finally there’s another derby fixture but this time in the capital. Just one point separates Shelbourne and Bohemians in the middle of the table.

Bohs have disappointed in their last two games, going