LOI preview: Hoops smell blood as leading sides meet

Four of the top five clash tonight in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division with a possibility Shamrock Rovers could overtake Derry City table.

The Candystripes, held to a 1-1 draw by Bohemians last Friday, host St Patrick's Athletic, while the Hoops welcome Sligo Rovers to Tallaght Stadium.

These sides met 10 days ago but matches from the third series in the league have been brought forward from July in order to free up the schedule for their European campaigns

All four will compete in the Champions League or Europa Conference League.

Thoughts will be firmly on the league tonight, however.

Derry were given a controversial penalty and found it tough against Bohs.

They dismantled Pat’s 4-0 in Richmond Park, while the Saints recovered from that loss by being on the right end of that scoreline against Drogheda three days ago.

Jack Malone is unlikely to be involved for the home side as he recovers from a hip flexor injury. The young talent coming through Inchicore is very exciting as demonstrated in Head in the Game Park on Friday.

Sam Curtis became the club’s youngest player to start a league game in the modern era with the 16-year-old performing well.

Kyle Robinson bagged his first goal on debut, while Darragh Burns netted the opener.

Saints boss Tim Clancy is happy to get another opportunity to face Derry despite the mauling in Dublin 8: "I think after last week's performance against Derry, it's probably a good thing that we are facing them again so quickly.

"The whole lot of us were disappointed after last week, and we know that it fell well below the standards we expect at this club, so now we've not an opportunity to go up there on Monday and put in a way better performance than last week that's our main aim, to try to get a