In the circumstances you would expect them all to be nervous wrecks but, 48 hours before they take on Kilkenny in a game that could still win them the league, Eddie Gormley insists that everyone in the St Patrick's camp is perfectly relaxed about tomorrow night's two big games.
A short head in front of their rivals for long stretches of the championship race, it is Shelbourne who hold the advantage with a game to go and that, insists Richmond Park's influential midfielder, means all the pressure is on the Tolka Park side going into this weekend.
"Basically there's nothing we can do about it now but look to win in Kilkenny and hope Dundalk do us a favour, that's obviously what we'll be trying to do but we all know that the ball's in their court so there's no point in getting too worked up about it," he says.
The players have trained this week but, says Gormley, it was "just a night of fun and games, something to chill the lads out" which ended in a bit of a discussion about how to handle things on the night.
"We were talking about whether to go down there just looking to take the three points or to go for the seven goals but then somebody mentioned about a team going all out to score a lot of goals a few years ago and finding themselves one down to San Marino after about 20 seconds. the important thing, we agreed, was to win the game and, if we're three or four up after an hour really go for it but there are so many possible scenarios it'd be crazy to take anything for granted."
Shelbourne, he reckons, would do well not to count their chickens either. Missing Dave Campbell, Pat Fenlon and Dessie Baker for the short journey north they are likely to have a tough time of it in Oriel Park against a team, he feels, that played some very good football in Dublin last week. Ultimately, he concedes, however, it's "in the lap of the gods now so there isn't too much point getting worked up about it".
One problem for St Patrick's, he feels, is that the current situation has overshadowed slightly what they have already achieved in the space of one short year. A lot of new players arrived last summer and, in their first season together they have, at the very least, qualified for Europe. Most of the panel are young and the future, "not just next season but the next four or five years" looks very bright indeed.
Under Pat Dolan the system has changed, too, with St Patrick's now generally lining out with three men in midfield, a switch which has paid dividends on a number of occasions as the pressure of Ian Gilzean's presence in the box and wide men on either side has proved too much for many of the division's less polished sides.
Despite feeling, however, that the system suits his style of play, affording him more freedom to carry the ball, more time to weigh up his options, Gormley is disappointed with his own contribution to his team's performance this season.
"Really until the last five or six weeks I wasn't happy at all. The system suited me all right but I just wasn't happy with the way I was playing. I sat down and talked to Pat about it, though, and tried to change my approach slightly which seems to have paid off.
"Over the last half a dozen games I've felt that things have gone much better although the fact that Thomas Morgan and Paul Osam have come into a bit of form of late has probably helped to take the pressure off me, too."
This summer, he admits, there will probably be more changes at Richmond Park as Dolan attempts to move the team on another stage but his future seems certain to lie at the club with the 29 year-old having signed an extension to his contract that will keep him there until the summer of the year 2001.
"As far as I'm concerned I'll be there until then but the most important thing now is for everyone to get Friday out of the way, take a break and then come back and set our sights next year on winning the league . . . or," he adds hurriedly "retaining it."
