Rivals may make peace and play for the title

This year's Eircom League title could end up being decided by a two-legged play-off between St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne if an agreement believed to have been arrived at by leading officials of the two clubs yesterday receives the support of the FAI.

While none of the officials involved was prepared to comment, there were reports that St Patrick's president Tim O'Flaherty and Shelbourne chairman Finbarr Flood met for several hours yesterday. They were attempting to resolve a crisis that has badly undermined the credibility of the league as a whole as well as marking a downturn in the already desperately poor relations between the two Dublin rivals.

The result appears to have been a broad agreement that, if the FAI, league and UEFA agree, the two sides would play off to decide the title as well as which of the two clubs would get to play in the Champions League.

It seems that the clubs believe they have achieved enough common ground on the issue and that the support of the FAI will now be sought. The association's general secretary Brendan Menton has apparently made it a priority to sort out the current registration mess. All parties contacted last night saw this as being potentially far less painful than leaving the league to strictly enforce rules that have not been properly complied with by many clubs.

Prior to last night's match at Oriel Park Shamrock Rovers chairman Joe Colwell was sounded out about his club's attitude to a potential deal. It was apparently put to him that, as part of the arrangement, Rovers might settle for participating in the Intertoto Cup regardless of how the remaining results go. This would leave the way clear for the two main protagonists in the dispute to play each other for first and second place in the league after Sunday's final round of games.

Colwell said last night that the suggestion had been rejected but he was enthusiastic about an alternative proposal floated at a rival club: Rovers would be guaranteed the UEFA Cup place in the event that they finish ahead of St Patrick's with the 15 point deduction being taken into account.

If that happened then the losers of the play-off would then play in the Intertoto Cup. There is also a sugestion than an arrangement could be hammered out in advance whereby the revenues generated by the clubs in the respective competitions might be pooled and then shared out in some way.

League commissioner Roy Dooney said: "I certainly don't want to sound negative about any of this, but it is something that we would have to run past UEFA.While I would welcome any initiative that would get these two clubs talking again, we would have to see the shape of any proposed solution before we assess it fully.

"I would imagine that a decision of this magnitude would have to be considered by a wide number of parties before any decision could be reached."

Former Shelbourne chairman Gary Brown said the proposals probably represent the "best possible solution to what has become a terrible mess".

"If this is agreed then it's an opportunity for the clubs to resolve their differences in a dignified way and for the league to be decided on the pitch," he said. "The games would probably generate huge interest, they might even be televised live and the whole thing would restore some much-needed credibility. It makes football sense and it makes business sense."

Avoiding a major bloodletting over the outstanding player registration difficulties at this stage would also, he added, "give the administrators a chance to sort themselves out once and for all, if they are really serious about doing that".

"It requires people to be brave, to admit that they made mistakes and to come to an equitable solution. It gives everybody a chance to start again," he added.

It is believed that in addition to the damage already caused to the reputations of the various clubs involved as well as to that of the league as a whole, the officials involved in the talks are concerned about possible animosity between their rival supporters.

It is far from clear, however, how the players or managers might view such a deal. Those close to him were pessimistic last night about the reaction of Shelbourne manager Dermot Keely.

But if senior FAI officials feel there is a basis to move forward on then an emergency meeting of the league may be called.