Rovers have been the revelation of the season

On Soccer:With the first game of the last series of matches completed over the weekend, the League of Ireland season enters its business end with much intrigue at both ends of the Premier Division table and a right battle for promotion developing from the First Division.

Their dropping of four points in draws with Galway United and Bohemians last week, which could have put them 11 points clear at the top, instead of the seven-point advantage they now enjoy, Drogheda United's historic first championship is not as impending as it appeared a week ago as they set off this morning for Sweden and their Uefa Cup second qualifying round, second leg with Helsingborgs.

If it's unlikely that Drogheda, with their strength in depth, will be caught, the issues of what's going on behind them in the battle for other slots in Europe next season offers the real fascination.

Under the "unique", as he put it himself after their win in Waterford a fortnight ago, management of Pat Scully, Shamrock Rovers undoubtedly have been the revelation of the season as they sit second in the table this morning with a three-point advantage over early pacesetters St Patrick's Athletic.

Bouncing straight back up as champions from their only ever sojourn in the First Division last year, Rovers' eclectic mix of youth, some experience and, perhaps most tellingly of all, sheer focus and determination has provided the story of the season for many.

The other interesting chronicle of the campaign to date is the collapse of St Patrick's Athletic over the last three months. A blistering start to the season, which gave us a team playing some of the best attacking football seen in the league in recent years, has petered out to such an extent that European qualification via the league is very much in jeopardy from a team that looked capable of challenging strongly for the title.

Having gone unbeaten in the opening 12 games, their defeat at bottom-of-the-table Longford Town on Saturday has meant they've won just two of their last 11, provoking manager John McDonnell to ask of his players afterwards if they really "cared enough".

Compared to where they are today, 10 points behind Drogheda in third place, an eight-point lead at the top of the table at the end of May looks a dispiriting distance away.

The Holy Trinity, as Bohemians manager Seán Connor dubbed it, of Joseph Ndo, Keith Fahey and Alan Kirby in their midfield, though now restored after Ndo's long injury absence, has lost all confidence and the team is a pale shadow of its early promise.

Though Bohemians and Sligo Rovers - both four points behind in joint-third place - are well in contention, a revitalised Cork City, a point further back though with two games in hand before last night's home clash with Bray Wanderers, look the real threat entering the final straight of the season.

On their day, Cork are perhaps the best footballing side in the league. However, a recent run in which they picked up just two points from games with the four teams immediately above them questioned whether they have the drive and toughness to mix it with the challengers.

With a forlorn look about it just weeks ago, the battle to stay in the top flight is developing into, potentially, the most exciting story of the season.

Longford Town, 13 points adrift, in part courtesy of their six-point deduction for accounting discrepancies, just five weeks ago have given themselves a real chance of beating the drop. Their win over St Patrick's on Saturday was their fourth in five league games and moves them to within four points of the Jykell and Hyde team of the season, Waterford United.

As Waterford, decent one week, very poor the next, can't find any consistency, the momentum is with Longford, a solid side with good and experienced players. Flancare Park on October 13th, when Waterford visit, could be a very interesting night indeed.

Interesting times also in the First Division which has seen a significant change at the top over the last month. Dundalk, bitterly disappointed with the administrative events at the end of last season which conspired to deprived them of promotion, endorsed their tag of pre-season favourites with an unbeaten run of 14 games.

But it's gone pear-shaped for John Gill's side recently with their demoralising 4-1 defeat at Limerick 37 on Friday seeing them drop out of the top two for the first time this season. The rot of just one win from their last seven games has to stop quickly if they're to go from champions-elect and automatic promotion, or missing out altogether.

Leaders Cobh Ramblers, unbeaten now in 23 games after losing their opening two, and Finn Harps, whose 12th win from their last 14 league matches on Friday now has them second, are very much the form sides.

Buoyed by their win over Dundalk on Friday, fourth-placed Limerick, re-formed just weeks before the season began, will feel they're right back in contention for the play-offs.