LOI preview: Duff's Shels buoyant ahead of Hoops test

It was Monday night madness in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division, with many sides no doubt still thinking about the outcome of their game on the midweek round of games.

Where do we start?

Damien Duff's Shelbourne made it four wins on the spin by beating UCD 2-0 and tonight they face a real test of their progress when they visit the champions Shamrock Rovers.

For the Hoops, well nobody saw their defeat in Drogheda coming. Danny Mandriou saw red and very little went right for Stephen Bradley’s side.

That opened up the door for Derry City to close the gap on the leaders. But they were outplayed by Sligo Rovers on the night, which left Ruaidhri Higgins saying the Candystripes had let their fans down as they slumped to a third straight defeat.

In the home dugout John Russell was leading the Bit O’ Red to a win just 24 hours after the club parted company with Liam Buckley. Russell could be a contender for the role and has a chance to further enhance his reputation as they face UCD tonight.

St Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians continue to have their ups and downs and on Monday they left with very different feelings from their previous game. Pat’s came on the back of a terrible performance, while Bohs had a victory to put a pep into their step. However, Tunde Owolabi took matters into his own hands with a hat-trick to pile the pressure on Keith Long once again.

Bohs face Drogheda tonight, desperate for win, while United’s upset over Shamrock Rovers means they could move level on points with the Gypsies tonight if they were to come away with another victory.

Finally, the team which has slowly edged into, dare we say it, the title mix. Dundalk’s latest win over Finn Harps means they are now just a point behind Derry and eight from the