All games 7.45pm unless stated.

St Patrick's Athletic v Bray Wanderers

Both the Saints and the Seagulls enter the game off the back of good victories last week: Bray recording a 1-0 win at home to Drogheda United, while Pat's defeated local rivals Shamrock Rovers 2-0 thanks to goals from Chris Forrester and Morgan Langley.

For Saints’ Republic of Ireland U21 international Lee Desmond, playing a part in their best ever run of consecutive league wins in one season has been a great experience, with the defender outlining that the squad are determined to keep the good run of form going.

“Training has been really good the past few weeks as the confidence levels are high with the winning run we’re on. Everyone has played a part in the run so we all want to just keep it going with a result against Bray,” he said.

"We know what they can do to us if given the chance and with the run of form they are on themselves, it’ll be a very tough game.”

In injury news Christy Fagan remains sidelined, Kenny Browne will have a late fitness test, while Ian Bermingham is suspended.

Bray Wanderers finally appear to have some stability under manager Mick Cooke but despite all the off-pitch trails and travails they've undergone this season, the Seagulls are somehow in the top half of the table.

Wanderers have won three of their four games under Cooke and will be hoping to repeat their 1-0 victory over St Pat's from May.

Bohemians v Galway United

Bohemians are aiming to become hard to beat again as they look to stop a sudden decline in form.

Having had a strong defensive record for much of the season, the north Dublin side have conceded ten goals in three matches.

“Scoring three goals away should be good enough to win any game on the road,” said manager Keith Long in reference to their 4-3 loss away to 10-man Limerick last week.

“The players recognise where we have to improve. We’ve got to get back to being difficult to beat. The last couple of games we’ve been very open to play against, and that’s something we’ll try to solve.”

Lorcan Fitzgerald, Lee Steacy and Eoin Wearen return to the Gypsies squad after injury.

Galway United travel to Dalymount Park looking to get their league form back on track after suffering three successive defeats.

The Connacht side have gone down to Derry City, St Pat's and and Bray in recent weeks.

They must arrest that decline without Andy O'Connell (foot), Ryan Connolly (ankle), Padraic Cunningham (knee), while Enda Curran (hamstring) is rated doubtful and Conor Barry (thigh), Marc Ludden (ankle) and Conor Melody (ankle) all face late fitness tests.

Boss Tommy Dunne said: "If we can pick up three points against Bohemians, which is a tough order going to Dalymount Park, then it gives us a great boost. We need that boost because the teams around us and below us are picking up points and we're not.

"We need to steady things down a bit, we've had a tough week last week and we're hoping to be fresh now against Bohemians, even with our lengthy injury-list."

Cork City v Limerick

Last weekend’s 2-0 victory away to Sligo Rovers saw Cork close the gap on leaders to Dundalk to four points.

City are second in the table and have recorded four wins in their last five home fixtures in the league.

The visitors have struggled this season and sit bottom of the table, but have shown signs of a resurgence in recent weeks, claiming two consecutive wins, against Sligo Rovers and Bohemians, to give themselves a real chance of avoiding relegation.

The Leesiders have two victories out of two against the Blues this season: a 5-0 win at Turner’s Cross in the second game of the season and a 1-0 success at Jackman Park in May.

Cork manager John Caulfield said: “Even before the two wins they have had, they drew with Rovers and drew with Dundalk, so they have shown that they are a difficult side to play against.

"They have had two good wins; last weekend was an incredible win for them, to be down to ten men and 3-2 down, it was an incredible win for them and it showed the resolve and determination in their team. You can sense that they now feel they can avoid relegation, so it will be a difficult game for us."

John Kavanagh, Darren Dennehy and Gavan Holohan are out but Kevin O’Connor may make the match-day squad.

Limerick manager Martin Russell knows that his team “have still got the hardest job” in the bid for Premier Division survival, but he says their back-to-back wins provide “reason for hope” for the challenge ahead.

“It’s still all to play for, the fact that we’ve all got to play each other," he said. "That’s another factor as well where we can take points off each other. There is no doubt about it, we’ve still got the hardest job, but we’re going to try to give it the best go that we can.



“I think five more wins is the type of target that we’ve got to aim for. That’s why we have got the hardest task. Others probably don’t need as much on the run-in but we’ve just got to try to maximise each game now."

Shaun Kelly and Patrick Kanyuka are suspended.

Derry City v Dundalk

Derry City claimed back-to-back wins for the first time in over a year with a huge 4-0 victory away to Galway United but Peter Hutton's men will have it all to do if they want to extend that run against champions Dundalk.

That win over Galway say the Candystripes take a big step towards league safety and six points clear of the relegation zone.

Hutton feels his side can claim something against Dundalk and told the BBC: "We have to go in confident with recent results. Fortunes have picked up of late and you can see that in our training sessions with the players."

"Dundalk are still a formidable squad. They will be smarting after not getting the three points against Longford last week and will be going all out for the win."

Derry must plan without injured striker Patrick McEleney, who is carry a rib injury while defender Ryan McBride is a doubt with a hip problem.

Cillian Morrison is suspended.

Last week the champions were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Longford Town.

Despite dominating the match and the visitors being reduced to 10 men, Dundalk couldn’t break down the defence and had to settle for a point.

Earlier in the week Dundalk let go of their EA Sports Cup crown as they were knocked out in the semi-final by Galway United who, after a 0-0 draw in 120 minutes, defeated the holders 4-2 on penalty kicks at Eamonn Deacy Park.

After the weekend’s action, Dundalk saw their lead reduced from six to four points ahead of Cork City who are second. They are now nine points clear of St. Patrick’s Athletic who sit third and 12 ahead of Shamrock Rovers in fourth.

Winger Daryl Horgan said: “We are very disappointed with the result at home to Longford Town last week.

"They are the games that we feel that we should be winning and considering the amount of chances that we had during the game we feel that we done enough to get the three points but these games happen and we weren’t able to win unfortunately.

"We have to kick on now and go again."

Manager Stephen Kenny has no injury or suspension issues to deal with.

Drogheda United v Sligo Rovers

Drogheda United will be aiming to open up a nine-point gap between themselves and Sligo Rovers.

The Boynesiders were dragged deeper into the relegation battle last Saturday after they lost 1-0 to Bray Wanderers, their 13th league defeat of the season.

Goals have dried up for Drogheda in the last few weeks with only two scored in their last five outings and manager Johnny McDonnell is aware that his side need to start taking their chances in front of goal.

"We have been a bit too reliant on Lee Duffy lately and it is important that other players in the team start contributing on the scoresheet.

"The majority of our defeats this season have been by a single goal so if we can just cut out some of the needless mistakes we have been making then I'm certain we will start picking up results again."

Lloyd Buckley is unavailable through illness, while Tiarnan Mulvenna is suspended.

Micky Adams will go looking for his first three points as Sligo Rovers boss.

The new manager took charge for the first time a week ago at The Showgrounds when Cork City took away a 2-0 win.

He has been boosted by the return to fitness of some players with the squad also added to this week by the signing of striker Anthony Elding.

However, Adams says it may take some time before Elding is match-fit: “We had Anthony Elding, John Russell and Danny Ledwith who have been training so we are getting more numbers back fit and onto the training ground. They’ll all be competing for a place sooner rather than later.”

After losing last weekend at the hands of City he says the players are still in good spirits for the crucial trip to United Park: “They’ve been fine. Obviously disappointed with the last result, not the performance, but the result.

"As far as everyone is concerned we draw a line under it, forget about it and prepare as well as we can for the next game.”

Ruairi Keating, Kevin Devaney and Liam Flatley are all doubts for the game, while Jeff Henderson is definitely out.

Longford Town v Shamrock Rovers, 8pm

Shamrock Rovers enter a post-Keith Fahey era after the Ireland midfielder announced his retirement from the game.

The Hoops travel west to Longford hoping to put last week's defeat to St Pat's behind them.

Manager Pat Fenlon told shamrockrovers.ie: "We have had two tough games against Longford this season and this could be another tight game. They had a good result last week so have some form.

"Our players know that there is no room for error at this stage, we need to go out and win the game, it's as simple as that. Some players will get a chance to play tomorrow night and they need to grasp the opportunity and show that they should start every week."

Marty Waters and Pat Cregg are suspended. Sean O'Connor is out for the season with an ankle injury and Ryan Brennan misses out with a calf injury.

Stephen McPhail and Damien Duff are still working towards match fitness.

Longford team news unavailable.