Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny: 'You get setbacks...It's how you respond to them.' Picture credit: Oliver McVeigh / SPORTSFILE

Stephen Kenny is six games away from the capture of a title and fufillment of a dream yet is refusing to look beyond tonight and Derry.

History has taught him to be cautious. A veteran of 16 years in management, he has been both the hunter and the hunted, leading from the front when Bohemians won the 2002/03 championship, coming from behind to lose the 2006 league title on goal difference when at Derry.

He is a Dundalk man now but it's a similar script. A team, unheralded before he got the job, have the sniff of glory in their nostrils.

Three clear of Cork City and eight ahead of the defending champions, St Pat's, they are looking good.

Yet they were looking even better on Friday afternoon, before they lost their first league game since April and before Cork scrambled a late winner in Turner's Cross to cut a six-point gap in half.

SETBACKS

"You get setbacks," said Kenny. "It's how you respond to them. We've Derry tonight, an impressive team, a team who have been playing well recently and we have to get back to showing the confidence and spirit that has served us so well all year.

"I'm so proud of these players. They've scored nearly 100 goals, reached two Cup finals, won three out of four games in Europe, reached the FAI Cup quarter finals and have topped the League.

"Truly, they've been fantastic. Friday's result was disappointing but that's all it was. You move on. When you lead the league, you can afford a setback. When you're chasing, you can't. There's more pressure on you when you are coming from behind because one slip up can really hurt you."

What is hurting Kenny even more is the absence of his captain, Stephen O'Donnell, whose season was cut short by the cruciate knee injury he picked up against Shamrock Rovers earlier in the campaign.

Deprived his calming influence, and considerable gifts, Dundalk are relying on younger, although equally talented, players to seal the deal.

Win tonight and a first championship since 1995 will seem a considerably easier task to complete. But lose and the 'Squeaky Bum Time' phrase will become frequently overused.

Meanwhile the players of Sligo Rovers and Bohemians have been frequently overused in the last two months as this congested League of Ireland season nears its conclusion.

They meet tonight in the Showgrounds with little at stake after Bohemians effectively secured their Premier Division status with a win over Bray on Friday.

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