Friday D Day in title race

National League: After weeks of uncertainty the Eircom National League title will be decided on Friday evening following the decision by arbiter Michael Collins SC that the disputed game between Bohemians and Shelbourne should not be replayed.

The decision means that both of the top two sides have the same number of points with one game left to play each while Shelbourne have a decisive advantage over rivals Derry City in terms of goal difference.

Derry, who will lift the title if they can achieve a better result against Cork City at the Brandywell than Shelbourne manage against Bohemians in Tolka Park, welcomed the decision yesterday and called upon the club's supporters to get behind manager Stephen Kenny and his players for what is now a hugely important final league game.

Ollie Byrne, meanwhile, had little enough to say about the situation. "Shelbourne Football Club will be keeping its counsel and conveying its thoughts to the FAI," said the club's chief executive when asked for his reaction yesterday.

His options in relation to this issue - the fact that Jason McGuinness played for Bohemians against them when he should have been suspended - are extremely limited with any legal action likely to fail on the basis that they agreed to enter into binding arbitration. Byrne could take the case to CAS, the international Court of Arbitration in Sport.

He has, meanwhile, regularly threatened in recent times to resurrect the issues of the league's failure to punish Derry City for not observing Sean Hargan's suspension and its decision to expunge all of Dublin City's results from the records after the club went out of business.

The former matter was decided when Derry's solicitors realised that the FAI's disciplinary committee and the league had, between them, failed to follow the required procedures in relation to the suspension.

The latter decision was arrived at after it emerged that the league had no adequate rule to cover the eventuality of a club folding and withdrawing from the league in a disorderly way.

Shelbourne would appear to have a stronger case in relation to Hargan although it would seem to be more a matter of seeking damages in the event that it can be established beyond doubt that Derry did escape a three-point deduction on the basis of the mistakes made in Merrion Square than pressing to have the outcome of the league altered.

For any of this to become really relevant, however, the club must first lose out on Friday night and the fact is that their game against a seriously depleted Bohemians should be a good deal less taxing than Derry's encounter with a Cork side that is still chasing second place itself.