Premier Division champions Dundalk make the trip west to face Sligo Rovers tonight (7:45 pm) for a rescheduled fixture, off the back of last Friday's 5-0 hammering of UCD.
A win tonight for Vinny Perth's men would see them extend their lead at the top of the Premier Division to five points but assistant Head Coach Ruaidhri Higgins is wary of the task ahead of them.
"We are coming into the business end of the season and we have to be ready for Sligo," said Higgins. "They turned us over there back in April so we want to rectify that. It’s going to be a difficult game."
Lilywhites midfielder John Mountney has an ankle injury and will see a specialist this week to determine the length of time he will be out for.
Andy Boyle has a slight hamstring strain and will be assessed ahead of kick-off. Sean Murray and Jamie McGrath were substituted on Friday injuries also and will face late fitness tests.
The Bit O’ Red play their first league game at the grounds in five weeks and come into the game with back-to-back wins in all competitions, including last Friday's 4-2 win at Cork City where Romeo Parkes and Ronan Coughlan both bagged a brace.
Dante Leverock begins the first of a five-match suspension but will also be on international duty with Bermuda for the next two weeks.
Rovers boss Liam Buckley was delighted, not only with the win, but with how his team played against Cork and he wants his players to keep that up for the rest of the season.
"We want to grow our team into a slick passing outfit and we need to improve that," said Buckely.
"We are by no means the finish article by any stretch. That said , I’m really pleased with the effort and workrate and the players have shown that throughout the year.
"It was obviously a long trip but we tailored our schedule to try to manage the lads and I’m not worried about tiredness.
"We’ll be ready for the game on Monday and a big week. We’d like to produce more of what we saw on Friday and for the lads to have a right belt at Dundalk and see what we can get out of it.
"We know how hard it’ll be and what is needed to compete with them."
FAI announce SSE Airtricity League fixture changes
Meanwhile, the Premier Division meeting between Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, September 14, will now take place on Friday, September 13 and the kick-off time will be 8pm.
As a result of that fixture change, the replay date for the Sligo Rovers versus UCD tie in the FAI Cup has now been changed to Monday, September 16, with kick-off at 7.45pm, if it is required.
Derry City's home match against Cork City, which was originally scheduled for Friday, September 13 but was postponed due to Derry's progression to the EA SPORTS Cup final, will now take place on Friday, September 27, with kick-off at 7.45pm.
In the First Division, Galway United v Limerick, which was postponed on Friday, August 30, will now take place on Monday, September 16, with kick-off at 7.45pm.
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