NOW, at last, comes the meat of the season, something to get one's teeth into (never mind the BSE). The leading clubs have been promising us quite a climax to the season, and by this time next week the dust will have settled on the most significant weekend of the season.

The campaign's first 10,000 plus crowd could descend on Dalymount Park given the day that's in it a Good Friday FAI Cup semi final between Bohemians and St Patrick's Athletic. The country's top two at the moment are also scheduled to meet again at Dalymount on Easter Monday in a potentially decisive Premier Division encounter always presuming (a dangerous habit) that a cup draw doesn't necessitate a Richmond replay 48 hours later instead.

That the fixture situation remains a mite unclear and subject to further amendment is singularly unsatisfactory. Every year one open's the annual fixture book (upon its belated arrival) and it doesn't require a soothsayer to foresee fixture problems arising out of the cup semi finals being scheduled on a weekend of a full league programme.

As it is usually at a pivotal point in the league campaign, this invariably causes upheavals to the seasonal run in. Sure enough, we have the latest row regarding re arranged fixtures and the inevitable imbalances that have accrued, with Shelbourne seemingly at an advantage.

Allowing for the problems of having clubs idle an extra weekend it's still the case for the previous two rounds in any case surely it would be best for the FAI/National League to extend the season by a week and leave cup semi final weekend free from a full league programme.

It would also seem fair to revert to two legged cup semi finals. If the semi finals are not to be played at neutral venues (which is entirely understandable given the probable shortfall in attendance and the inevitable difficulty in establishing "neutral" venues between, say, clubs from Dublin and from AN Other place), then it hardly seems right that a club can progress to the semi finals and then be drawn away from home.

Take the case of St Patrick's.

This is their fourth semi final under Brian Kerr. In 1988 they were beaten fair and square over two legs by Dundalk, but in their two subsequent semi finals they were beaten 1-0 away from home by Cork and Dundalk.

Travelling across the city to Dalymount Park may not seem to place them at such an inherent disadvantage as a 165 mile trip to Turner's Cross, but it is still a disadvantage. Likewise, Shelbourne may already have beaten Sligo Rovers at the semifinal stage at the Showgrounds as recently as last year, yet that only makes a second successive semifinal trip all the more inequitable.

The current system is preferable to semi finals played at poorly populated, "neutral" venues, but two legged affairs would seem more fair to players and management especially, not to mention supporters.

Admittedly, part of this weekend's appeal is the knowledge that places in the final can be decided on the night, though the odds on a draw between Bohemians and St Patrick's must be strong.

In the three previous seasons the Dublin rivals drew each of their seven league meetings. In truth, hardly one stood out from the rest. Thankfully, though this season broke the trend.

After a misleadingly calm opening period, the October 13th meeting was a fiercely contested, full blooded affair. The re match at Richmond early in the new year was a three all thriller studded with goals of the highest quality.

With so much at stake on both Good Friday and Easter Monday, and the nucleus of ex Saints in the Bohemians line up, the next instalments could well revert to type, but it's hard to think how they could be deadly dull.

After all, one thing the two sides have been doing consistently more than any other club in the country is scoring goals the 99 between them in the league comfortably make them the country's highest scorers.

Given the backdrop of a good pitch, a reasonable night and a huge crowd befitting a cup semi final derby (and even the English FA Cup protagonists need these fillips), then it's safe to assume that either the gifted (ie, Brian Mooney or Eddie Gormley), the less celebrated class players (ie, Tony O'Connor or Liam Buckley) or the proven poachers (ie, Derek Swan or Ricky O'Flaherty) will rise to the occasion.

At the end of it all, even two draws would leave St Patrick's still five points clear of Bohemians and comforted in the knowledge that victories over Galway at home and Dundalk away would copper fasten the title before Shelbourne come calling on the final day. But that's asking plenty of St Patrick's, and so Bohemians and Shelbourne are a long way from finished just yet.

Next weekend will tell a tale entire seasons could be up for grabs. Alas, the flip side of two Bohemians St Patrick's meetings in such close proximity is the almost guaranteed surfeit of "full hearted" play. There'll be a bit of blood and gore, almost guaranteed. With Dublin pride close friendships and rivalries a cup final place and perhaps a league title at stake, it'd be disappointing if there weren't.