A couple of years back when they were relegated it seemed like Dundalk's fall from the premier and into the first division was an almost unthinkable setback for the country's most successful club of the past three decades.
These days, any illusions there might have been around Oriel Park that the club has a divine right to a place in the top-flight are long since dead, but the fact that Sunday's defeat by Cork City combined with Longford's surprise win over Shelbourne has left Martin Murray's side languishing in the bottom three has still rattled everybody around the place.
While the team's current position is obviously worrying in itself, it is the fact that, after an all-right start, they have managed just four points from 27 that is causing the greatest concern.
With the players that have been signed over the summer there looks, on the face of it, to be a squad there capable of staying up, but runs like that can leave teams with unrealistic targets to chase during the run in if the slide isn't pretty quickly drawn to a halt.
With that in mind, Murray admits that this week's trip to Galway and next Thursday's visit by Longford are "massive" games for the club.
It stands to reason that they are of enormous importance too for the other clubs, both of which are likely to already see Dundalk's relegation as a potentially key part of their own survival plan.
Goals, or the lack of them, have been one of the major stumbling blocks for the side so far and Murray continues to scout around for a striker who might come in and help the team turn the corner.
On Sunday, there were certainly enough chances created during the first half for Dundalk to have had the game more or less wrapped up before the break. But the finishing was awful and so, as they were obliged to press forward in search of at least a point, City needed only to exploit the gaps in an increasingly overstretched defence to turn their first-half one-goal lead into an insurmountable three-goal one.
Having spent heavily enough getting last year's promotion-winning squad to this point, Murray now finds himself in the position of having to clear out two or three players if he is wants to bring in new faces. Though he is saying little about what the next step will be, it appears at least two or three of his squad may be transfer-listed over the coming days.
Prior to the Cork game, he and the club's committee sat down and conducted a serious review of the team's progress and so far he has received their backing for making the required changes.
At the moment there is little question of Murray himself being forced to depart, but neither party within the club makes any bones about the slightly longer term with the manager admitting that "everything comes down to results in this job" and his chairman observing that, "if things didn't improve after making some changes then I suppose his neck would have to be on the block really, wouldn't it"?
Whatever happens, insists Denning, the club will not embark on a spending spree in order to get out of trouble. The people who took over 18 months ago reckon they've spent too much time and effort getting the club to the point where only former director and benefactor Nobby Quinn is owed any significant amount of money.
Top-flight survival and a place in next season's 10-club premier division might open up the possibility of increased commercial revenue, but it still may require some sort of annual subscription from the 700 or co-operative members.
emalone@irish-times.ie
Former Finn Harps striker, Alex Nesovic, is expected to rejoin Bohemians tomorrow. He had been with the Dalymount Park outfit at the start of the season but departed after a falling out with manager Pete Mahon.
