FAI CUP FINAL BOHEMIANS v DERRY CITY:A GLANCE at the league table might support St Patrick's Athletic's claim to be the country's second best team but at the end of a difficult season it still seems that in tomorrow's Ford-sponsored FAI Cup final at the RDS we have the consolation of a clash between the Premier Division's undisputed top dogs and the side best equipped to take them on in a high-stakes, one-off game.

Bohemians may have finished 27 points ahead of their opponents in the championship but they ran their rivals from Inchicore ragged at the semi-final stage of this competition a month ago while they have failed to beat Derry City in four attempts this year.

Nobody from either camp has been able or willing in the build-up to this game to put their finger on just how it is that Derry have won two of those four games when the wider statistics suggest a considerable gulf in quality.

The ability of the City players to raise their game for the big occasions, combined with manager Stephen Kenny's knack for inspiring significant wins, must go a good way, however, towards providing an explanation.

Certainly the Dubliner's record against his Bohemians opposite number is little short of startling. With three league title to his credit as a manager already, Pat Fenlon's ability is beyond question but his sides have won just three of 27 meetings with teams managed by Kenny while the record in eight cup ties is three wins for City boss and five draws, three of which were subsequently decided in Kenny's favour on penalties.

Predictably, Kenny shrugs off the suggestion that he or his players somehow have the measure of the league champions and their manager. He does suggest, though, that for a young group his squad have a character uniquely suited to delivering on the big occasions. "The likes of (Kevin) Deery and (Barry) Molloy are barely 24 years old at this stage," he says, "but they're going into the fifth or sixth cup finals and I've been fortunate that in the four I've been to with this group, they've won every time.

"Bohemians have been terrific this year, to win 27 out of 33 league games is a remarkable achievement and they're entitled to be very proud of it. We've played well against, them, though, and I think what our lads bring into this game is a proven ability to deliver in finals. Hopefully, they'll manage it again."

Kenny is likely to have a full squad to choose from ahead of the game while Fenlon is missing Jason McGuinness (suspended) and Anto Murphy (cup tied). Both managers have strong options to mull over before naming their teams and Kenny suggests that, having already employed two different systems against Bohemians this year, it might not just be the personnel that changes.

Still, there seems likely to be only one switch to the Derry side that beat Galway at Terryland Park in the semi-final with Peter Hutton in for Mark McChrystal while Fenlon will most probably make two to the team that turned in such a devastating performance in Inchicore with Ken Oman and Glen Cronin in for McGuinness and Stephen O'Donnell respectively.

Derry's last FAI Cup win came in atrocious weather at the RDS a couple of years back but Kenny is hoping for more favourable conditions. Either way, the record books suggest City will somehow find a way to dent Bohemians dreams of a double.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

BOHEMIANS:Murphy; O Heary, Oman, Burns, Rossiter; Byrne, Cronin, Deegan, Brennan; Fenn; Crowe.

DERRY CITY:Doherty; McCallion, Hutton, Delaney, Gray; McGlynn, Deery, Molloy, McGinn; Morrow, Farren.