Stakes are high at Dalymount - December 12, 2000
Bohemians v Kilkenny 19:30
Bohemians and Kilkenny won't believe tonight's meeting is going ahead until the whistle goes to start the game! The previous scheduled meeting of the teams at Buckley Park was postponed four timesand is still pending!
That will make it tough for the players to psyche themselves for what is a crunch match on both sides. Bohemians' title aspirations took a severe dent on Friday night and they must take all three points tonight to close the gap on Shelbourne - or forget about being champions.
For Kilkenny, eight points adrift at the foot of the table, the 'easy' games have come and gone and been lost. Now the Cats must win the hard ones if they are to stay in the top flight.
Cats manager Joe McGrath won't need motivating. He gave up his job as manager of the New Zealand national team to take over the reins at Dalymount two seasons ago, bringing several of his star Kiwis with him.
But the Bohemians board gave him just FIVE games in charge before sacking him to allow Collins to take over! Bohs also got rid of every player McGrath had signed, including the Kiwis and McGrath's son, Derek.
Now Derek is at Kilkenny (brought there by former manager Pat Byrne) and McGrath has just signedNew Zealand international centre back Gavin Wilkinson -so it won't be just the manager himself who will be fired up to beat the Gypsies!