NATIONAL LEAGUE: There many be nothing new about fixture pile-ups but the levels of anguish they seem to cause to the clubs involved have certainly spiralled in recent years.

Even though there are an increasing number of full-time professionals playing in our premier soccer league, it seems that they couldn't be expected to stand up to the five-outing (in 13 days) schedule which the league may lay before St Patrick's Athletic when representatives of both parties meet this morning.

The difficulties facing the title challengers were compounded by the postponement on Friday night of the game against Dundalk due to heavy rain. Indeed, such was the state of the pitch at 7.0 p.m. nobody complained about the referee's decision to defer the game.

Sadly that's where the unanimity ended, though, for the two clubs failed to agree on a new time for the game despite the willingness of the hosts to come back on either Saturday or Sunday to play as long as an arrangement was reached there and then.

In such cases the clubs concerned have the initial responsibility for rearranging the game, but St Patrick's manager Pat Dolan said that he needed time to consider the matter. Dundalk manager Martin Murray said fine, then went home and that, as they say, was the end of that.

The conclusion of Dundalk officials, as well as the journalists present, was that Paul Osam's testimonial dinner, which was scheduled for Saturday night, was the reason for Dolan's hesitation.

But yesterday, perhaps prompted by Dermot Keely's comments after Sunday's win by Shelbourne over Shamrock Rovers, he was reported as insisting that this was not the case.

The function, he apparently told Sports.com, didn't come into the equation and he simply wanted to meet with league officials before sorting anything out. As no meeting could take place before this morning, he observed, nothing more could be done.

Now Dolan made it clear on Friday night that he was already unhappy with the prospect of his side having to play three games in the last week or so of the campaign while Shelbourne must only play on each of the remaining weekends. He said that the club would fight its corner and it is perfectly entitled to do so.

If, after tonight's meeting with Derry, the club plays Rovers on Friday, it could play Bohemians on Monday and Dundalk on Thursday before heading into its last fixture.

It's certainly not ideal, but at least one squad member has said that the players don't see such a schedule as a problem. And in any case, the only logical alternative appears to be having the concluding games of the championship shifted back a little so as to accommodate them, something that Roy Dooney regards as "problematic", not least because RTÉ is scheduled to televise one of Sunday week's matches live.

However, if Osam's fundraiser really had nothing to do with his decision to delay refixing the Dundalk game, it is hard to escape the conclusion that Dolan has gambled that by actually making his own side's predicament worse the league will be forced into a climbdown.

On the face of it, it's not a bad strategy. From watching events at Merrion Square over the years, you would have to say that if the league and its parent association were participants on It's A Knockout, they would both play their jokers before the climbdown round.

Now it looks as though Dolan will ask Dooney to extend the season, despite the fact that when the March finish to the league was decided - by the clubs themselves - it must have been expected that there would be rearranged games to be accommodated so soon after what has generally been the worst spell of the year for postponements in recent times.

Will Dooney accede to the request?

It appears to matter only in so far as it dictates which side gets to kick-start the appeals procedures war. All of which sort of leaves you hankering after an age when dockers, bus drivers and barmen knocked out trebles in their lunch breaks.